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FORENSIC ARGUMENTS. 



BY DAIVIEL WEBSTER. 



VOL. I. 



EIGHTH EDITION 



BOSTON: 

PUBLISHED BY CHARLES TAPPAN. 



1846. 



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By TreuDjrfW" 



DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS, to wit : 

District Clerk^s Office. 
Be it remembered, that on the tvventy-nintli day of November, A. D. 1830, in tlie fiftv-fifth 
year of the Independence of the United States of America, Perkins and Marvin 
of tlie said district, have deposited in this office the title of a book, the right whereof tliey 
claim as Proprietors, in tlie words following, to wit: 

" Speeches and Forensic Arguments. By Daniel AVeestek." 

In cor.formity to tlie Act of the Congress of the United States, entitled " An Act for tlw 
tncouragement of learning, by securing the copies of Maps, Charts and Books, to tlie Au- 
thors and Proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned :" and also to an 
Act entitled " An Act supplementary to an Act, entitled, an Act for the encouragement of 
learning, by securing the copies of Maps, Charts, and Books to the Autiiors and Proprietors 
of such copies during the times therein mentioned; and extending the benefits thereof to the 
arts of designing, engraving and etching historical and other prints " 

JNO. W.DAVIS, I ClerK of the District 
' ( of Masxachusetta. 



dt^ PREFACE. 



Since the publication of the second volume of Mr. Webster's 
"Speeches," his Congressional career has been brought to a close. 
Having been invited by the lamented Harrison to take a place in 
his Cabinet, Mr. Webster resigned his seat in the Senate of the 
United States, in February, 1841, and, on the 6lh of March fol- 
lowing, entered on the duties of the Department of State. The 
ability and success with which he has conducted the foreign affairs 
of the country, in this new sphere of public service, need no remark 
The Treaty between the United States and Great Britain, negotia- 
ted by him and Lord Ashburton, has been too recently proclaimed 
to require to be recalled to any body's remembrance. Ratified, on 
our side of the ocean, by four fifths of the Senate, without distinc- 
tion of party, it has been hailed by the whole People as an honor- 
able and highly advantageous settlement of controversies by which 
the Peace of the Nation had long been endangered. It is the pur- 
pose of tlie Publishers, at a future day, to collect into a volume the 
State Papers of Mr. Webster on the subject of this Treaty, and on 
other subjects which he may have been called on to treat in the sta- 
tion which he now occupies. In the mean time, they have thought 
that they should render an acceptable service to the Public by com- 
pleting the series of Mr. Webster's " Speeches," delivered in the 
Senate and before the People, previously to his entering upon Exec 
utive office. With this view, the presc. *■ volume has been prepared. 
In submitting it to the Country, the Publishers avail themselves of 
the opportunity to connect in a permanent form with Mr. Webster's 
Works, the following just vindication of his political course and char- 
acter from charges which the wantonness of party warfare has too 
often arrayed against him ; — 



4 



MR. WEBSTER AND HIS REVILERS. 

[from the national intelligencer of APRIL 24, 1841.] 

It is the practice of demagogues, in all free governments, to seek the 
direction of public opinion, by keeping alive old prejudices, or exciting 
new ones. In no country has this artifice been more freely or fre- 
quently resorted to than in our own, nor by any party in it so system- 
atically and intolerantly as by that which has sprung up of late years, 
and assumed to itself the name of Democratic, but which, so far from 
possessing the elements of true and enlightened democracy, is imbued 
and guided by the very spirit of despotism. Let any man have labored 
as long or as signally as he may in support of the rights of his country, 
of the national prosperity, of the Constitution, and of public liberty, — 
let his whole career have been marked by public usefulness, and his 
patriotism be as unblemished as the sun, — these shall all weigh as 
nothing in the scale, if he stand in the way of disappointed office-seek- 
ers, or of ambitious and aspiring partisans. Can nothing better be 
found to serve the ends of party rancor, he shall, though he be patriot- 
ism and purity personified, be hunted down and sacrificed, without 
scruple or remorse, to superannuated prejudices, or mere political 
abstractions. There is not one among the men whose names adorn 
the annals of our country, who has suffered more from this species of 
injustice than the present Secretary of State. This eminent citizen, 
whose name, in the most remote regions of the globe, sheds a lustre 
on the fame of his country, is at home assailed with all the malevo- 
lence of an intolerant faction, on the score of political incidents which 
took place before one half of our readers were born, and which, what- 
ever were their merit, ought, after such a lapse of time, to be consid- 
ered, upon any fair construction, as barred, by the statute of limitations, 
from any title to a place in political controversies of the present day. 
We had occasion to say the same thing not much more than six months 
ago, when an assault of this sort was made, and justly rebuked by pub- 
lic opinion, on the occasion of Mr. Webster's visit to the city of Rich- 
mond. Nor was it any new opinion of ours ; for it was, upon an 
occasion which then offered, expressed with equal confidence six years 
ago, and has been entertained by us, with the same earnestness of con- 
viction, more than twenty years gone by. It is preposterous to be rip- 
ping up any man's life for thirty or forty years, to discover whether, at 
some time or other, he has not differed in opinion from some other man 
or men who have long since gone down to the home of all the living. 



Not, by any means, that we think that Mr. Webster has any thing to 
apprehend from a free and fair inquiry into the whole of his poHtical 
life. On the contrary, we have no doubt he would court it. But what 
we do most decidedly object to is the falsification of history, the mis- 
statement of facts, and the distorting and blurring of the face of such 
facts as are not wholly misrepresented. 

These remarks are suggested by an article which we find in the 
Neio York Express of Wednesday last, the writer of which has taken 
the trouble to meet, and absolutely extinguish, the latest of these incen- 
diary attempts upon the reputation of JMr. Webster. We have a very 
sensible pleasure in transferring the whole article to our columns. 
Here it is : — 



FROM THE NEW YORK EXPRESS OF APRIL iil. 

MR. WEBSTER AND THE LAST WAR. 

During the struggles of the last election, some parties appear to have 
explored tlie Journals of Congress, during tlie war with England, to find mat- 
ter of accusation against Mr. Webster. 

A letter was published [hereto subjoined] appearing to furnish the result 
of such examination. Whether this was fair or not, few people could judge, 
as few have either the means or the leisure of going through so many vol- 
umes of public proceedmgs, and seeing whether the real truth has been 
extracted or not 

But a friend of ours, in this city, having leisure sufficient, in these dull 
times, has prepared a statement, in answer to the charges in, the letter 
aforesaid. 

We now publish the letter and the statement, and, at the request of the 
writer, we publish part of Mr. Webster's speech, in reply to Mr. Calhoun 
March 22, 1838. ' 

We commend the consideration of these papers not only to the friends of 
the last Administration generally, but in an especial manner to Governor 
Polk, of Tennessee, who, by newspaper accounts, is already "on the stump," 
as the Western phrase is, for the next August election. 

Instead of discussing subjects of present interest, the wortliy and venera- 
ble Governor seems to rejoice in discussions relating to by-gone times. 
There appear to be two objects which most attract his Excellency's atten- 
tion; one, to abuse Mr. Clay, who supported tlie war, and the other to abuse 
Mr. Webster, who, he says, opposed it 

We hope his Excellency will not omit some notice of the Berlin and 
Milan decrees, the affair of the Chesapeake, and that he wiU even take some 
notice of the quasi war with France. 

The venerable Governor will see how important it is to enter into these 
matters, when the questions before the American people are, whether m 

A* 



exhausted treasury shall be replenished, whether the country shall be 
defended, and -whetlier any attempt shall be made, by giving a sound cur- 
rency to the country, to revive business and confidence, and restore public 
and private credit. 

THE LETTER, (referred to above.) 

"Sir: I herewith send you the vote of Daniel Webster, on several 
occasions, while a member of Congress during the war. 

" 1st On the 7th of January, 1814, he voted against an appropriation for 
defraying the expenses of the navy. 

"2d. On the 19th of January, 1814, he voted against a proposition more 
effectually to detect and punish traitors and spies. 

" 3d. On the 25th of March, he voted against the bill to call forth the 
militia to execute the laws of the Union and repel invasion. 

" 4th. On the 1st of December, only a few days before the sitting of 
the Hartford Convention, he voted against a bill to provide additional rev- 
enue for defraying the expenses of the Government, and maintaining the 
public credit. 

"5th. On the 10th, he voted to postpone indefinitely a bill authorizing 
the President of the United States to call upon the several States for their 
respective quotas of militia to defend the frontier against invasion. 

" Cth. On the 13th, he voted against the same bill. 

" 7th, He also voted against a bill to provide additional revenue for the 
support of Government and the public credit, and also against an appropria- 
tion for rebuilding tlie Capitol, which had been destroyed by the enemy. 

"The above is taken from the public records at Washington. I could 
give you more, but the above is enough. Such is the vote of a Tory, now 
called Whig. Sorry I am to find you in such company, with such a leader. 

[What follows is of a private nature.] 

" Respectfully yours." 



THE STATEMENT. 

A true and exact statement of the case, in regard to each of these 
■votes, as appears from the Journals and the printed debates. 
The charges are : 

I. " On the 7th of January, 1814, he voted against an appropriation for defraying the 
expenses of the navy.'' 

This is exceedingly disingenuous, for two reasons : 

1st. Because the matter is not accurately stated, nor the reason for the vote 
given, as that now appears in tlie debates. A bill had passed the House of Rep- 
resentatives, and without opposition, either on the question of its engrossment or 
the question of its final passage, " making partial appropriations for the service 



of 1814." The Senate inserted, as an amendment, an appropriation of owe 7»i7- 
lion of dollars for the expenses of the navy. It was quite unusual, at tliat time, 
and indeed it is believed unprecedented, for the Senate to originate, by way of 
amendment, such large grants of money for the public service. 

On this ground, alone, the amendment was opposed by some who had been 
the warmest friends of the navy from the time of General Washington. It was 
a question of the regularity of proceeding, a question of the order of business, 
merely. The record shows that Nathaniel Macon, and other Administration 
men, voted with Mr. Webster, on that question, against concurring with the Sen- 
ate in their amendment. 

2d. Because it is well known that, throughout the whole war, Mr. Webster 
was constantly urging upon Government greater extension of our naval means, 
and augmented expenditure and augmented eiforts on the sea. The navy had 
been exceedingly unpopular with the party tlien in power. This every body 
knows ; and Mr. Webster was attempting to argue it into popularity. 

The Journal shows that, on the 8th November, 1814, the House went into 
committee on the bill from the Senate to authorize the President to build twenty 
vessels of war, to carry a certain number of guns. Mr. Reed moved to increase 
the number of guns more than twofold for each ship. Mr. Webster voted in 
the affirmative, but the motion was lost, and the bill then passed without opposi- 
tion. Doubtless many other votes of this kind may be found in the Journal, for 
the debates show that Mr. Webster constantly urged the increase of our naval 
power as the best means of meeting our enemy, the proudest maritime power in 
the world. 

In respect, then, to the vote here complained of, the fact is, that it was not a 
vote against an appropriation to defray the expenses of the navy, but was a vote 
against the assumption of the Senate to originate, by way of amendment, large 
appropriations of money for military service. 

It was then, and is now, thought by many, exclusively the legitimate office 
of the House of Representatives, to originate all the principal grants of money 
for the support of Government. Would it be considered fair to charge Nathan- 
iel Macon and others, the friends of Mr. Madison, and distinguished supporters 
of the war, with a disposition to withhold the means of defending the country, 
because he and they voted against the extraordinary amendment of the Senate .'' 
Certainly not ; and, therefore, the same charge now made against Mr. Webster 
with voting with jYathaniel Macon on that question, is unfair, if not ridiculous. 

II. " On the 10th January, 1814, he voted against a proposition more effectually to 
detect and punish traitors and spies." 

This is absolutely untrue. 

On the 10th of January, 1814, Mr. Wright, of Maryland, moved the follow- 
ing resolution : 

" Resolved, That a Committee of the Whole House be instructed to inquire into 
the expediency of extending the second section of the act for the establishment of 
rules and articles for the government of the armies of the United States, relative to 
spies, to citizens of the United States." 

The effect of extending the rules and articles of war relative to spies to citi- 
zens of the United States, would have been to expose every American citizen vis- 
iting the encampment of the American army, to be charged with being a spy, 
and have that charge tried and determined by a drum-head court-martial, and 
that trial followed by death. 

It would have withdrawn from our citizens that great shield of American 
liberty — the right of trial by jury — and placed the whole country, and all our 
citizens, at once under martial law. So thought Mr. Webster, and he voted 



8 

against it. So thought Mr. Cheves and Mr. Farrow, of South Carolina ; Mr. 
Duvall, Mr. Ormsby, and Mr. Clark, of Kentucky; Mr. Eppcs, of Virginia; 
Mr. Kent, of Maryland; Mr. Seybert, of Pennsylvania; Mr. Fisk, of Vermont, 
(or INew York ;) Mr. King, of North Carolina, (now Senator from Alabama, and 
late President of the Senate ;) Mr. Richardson, (late Chief Justice of New 
Hampshire;) Mr. Robertson, of Louisiana; and many others of the warmest 
supporters of the administration of Mr. Madison ; and they voted with Mr. 
Webster ; and there is no more truth in this charge against Mr. Webster than 
in the same charge, should it be made, against Mr. Eppes, the chairman of the 
Committee of Ways and Means, son-in-law of Mr. Jefferson, and leader of the 
then Democratic party in the House of Representatives. 

III. "On the 25th of March, he voted against the bill to call forth the militia to 
execute the laws of the Union and repel invasion." 

This is wholly a mistake, or misstatement. The Journal of the 25th of 
March shows no such question voted upon, or pending. 

IV. " On the 1st of December, only a few days before the meeting of the Hartford 
Convention, he voted against a bill to provide additional revenue for defraying the 
expenses of the Government, and maintaining the public credit." 

This reference to the Hartford Convention is merely for effect, and to make 
unfair and false impressions ; as it is known to all, who are not wilfully ignorant, 
that Mr. Webster had nothing to do with the Hartford Convention. 

The opponents of Mr. Webster have been, again and again, challenged in 
vain to the proof, that he was in any manner connected with the Hartford Con- 
vention, its origin, or proceedings. No such proof has been or can be presented. 
And yet the charge, so falsely made, and so often refuted, continues to be re- 
peated. 

As for the rest of the fourth allegation, it only appears that Mr. Webster was 
in a very small minority against a bill laying taxes on various articles, to some 
of which taxes there were very serious objections, however important the object, 
while money could be raised in other modes. 

This bill proposed a direct tax upon various articles. It laid duties upon 
sales at auction, on the postage of letters, on licenses to retail wines, on licenses 
to retail spirituous liquors and foreign merchandise, on carriages for the convey- 
ance of persons, and on ])late, harness, &c. It is but fair to ascribe Mr. Web- 
ster's vote against this bill to his objection to the form of some of the taxes, 
because the Journal shows that, a few days before, he voted in the affirmative on 
a proposition to increase other taxes. 

The yeas and nays given in the Journal show that the vote on the tax bill 
referred to was not, by any means, a test of parties, or a party vote — most of the 
leading Opposition members having voted in the affirmative. The Journal of the 
26th of October, 1814, sliows that Mr. Webster proposed and voted for some of 
the taxes provided for by this bill, but, as he disapproved of other taxes con- 
tained in it, he voted against the whole bill. 

V. " On the 10th, ho voted to postpone indefinitely a bill authorizing the President 
of the United States to call upon the several States for their respective quotas of mili- 
tia to defend the frontier against invasion." 

VI. " On the 13th, he voted against the same bill." 

The answer to these stands on the same ground as those to some of the pre- 
ceding. The reason is not given, but the debate shows a reason, fair and honest 
at least, whatever may be thought of its strength and validity. Mr. Webster 
never gave a vote against defending the country, against repelling invasion, or 



9 

against execuling the laws. He was as ready to defend tlie country as the 
warmest patriot ; and we have seen it stated, what is no doubt true, that when 
Portsmouth, the town in wliich he then hved, was supposed to be in danger of 
an immediate attack by the enemy, he was placed, on the nomination of John 
Langdon, at the head of a committee raised for its defence. 

In Mr. Webster's speecJi, 21st March, 1838, in reply to Mr. Calhoun, he 
challenged that gentleman to show that he ever gave an unpatriotic vote, during 
the war or at any other time. He admitted that, with Mr. Calhoun, he had pre- 
ferred to carry on the war with England on the ocean, and had indicated that 
preference by his votes, as had Mr. Calhoun and others. It is well known that, 
on the occasion referred to, Mr. Calhoun, who has served with Mr. Webster for 
nearly thirty years in Congress, and who well knew what his votes were during 
the war, was perfectly silent when this challenge was made. 

VII. " He also voted against a bill to provide additional revenue for the support of 
the Government and the public credit, and also against an appropriation for rebuilding 
the Capitol, which had been destroyed by the enemy." 

The answer given to the fourth charge is the answer to the seventh, except 
that under the seventh head is contained, also, a very disingenuous charge — that 
Mr. Webster voted against a bill to provide for the rebuilding of the Capitol after 
it had been destroyed by the enemy. 

The unfairness and falsity of this charge are shown by an examination of the 
record. The Journal shows the following legislation in respect to rebuilding the 
Capitol. It is to be remembered, however, that, in consequence of a domestic 
calamity, Mr. Webster did not take his seat in Congress, in 1814, until the 15th 
day of October. On the 26th of September, Mr. Fisk, of New York, a distin- 
guished friend of the administration of Mr. Madison, moved for a committee "to 
inquire into the expediency of removing the seat of Government, during the ses- 
sion of Congress, to a place of better security and less inconvenience." The 
motion prevailed ; ayes 72, noes 51. This was not a party vote, as the record 
tshows. 

On the 3d of October, the committee reported " that it was inexpedient, at this 
time, to remove the seat of Government;" but Mr. Fisk himself moved to amend 
the report by striking out the word '■'■inexpedient,'' and substituting "expedient." 
On this motion the vote stood 68 to 68, and the Speaker (Mr. Cheves) declaring 
himself for the amendment, it was adopted, and the amended resolution was 
referred to a Committee of the Whole House. 

October 4. The order of the day on this subject being called for, Mr. New- 
ton moved its indefinite postponement. This was negatived; yeas W, nays 77; 
and not a party vote, as the Journal shows. 

October 6. The report of the committee, having been reported back to the 
House from the Committee of the Whole House, was taien up ; and on the 
question to agree to it, the vote stood, ayes 72, and 71 noes. So the report recom- 
mending the removal of the seat of Government from Washington to some more 
convenient place was agreed to, and a committee was appointed to bring in a bill. 

October 13. Mr. Fisk reported a bill for tJie temporary removal of the seat 
of Government. 

On the 15th of October, Mr. Webster took his .seat for the first time for that 
session, and on this day the question was taken upon a motion to reject the bill, 
and it was negatived, ayes 76, noes 79, Mr. Webster voting in the negative ; that 
is to say, he voted against the rejection of a bill, brought in by a leading friend 
of the Administration, and on which there had been in no stage of it a party 
vote, providing for the removal of the seat of Government from Washington, 
VOL. III. 2 



10 

The bill, not being rejected, wag read a second time, and committed to a Com- 
mittee of the Whole House. Being reported back from the committee to the 
House, it was moved to amend the bill by inserting a section which provided 
that the President's House and the Capitol should be rebuilt on their former sites 
in the city of Washington, which was rejected without a division. 

In the Committee of the Whole the bill had been amended, and one of the 
amendments was to name the place to which the Governmont should be removed. 
(The place does not appear upon the Journal, but is believed to have been Lan- 
caster, Pennsylvania.) The question then being put upon the engrossment of 
the bill, it passed in the negative ; ayes 74, noes 83. And so the bill was lost. 
Mr. Webster voted in the affirmative. This was not a party vote ; the Northern 
men generally voted to remove the Government to Lancaster, and the Southern 
were against it. 

The nest proceeding that appears upon this subject took place on the 20th 
of October, when Mr. Lewis, of Virginia, (whom Mr. Jefferson called tiie resid- 
uary legatee of all the federalism of the State of Virginia,) moved for a commit- 
tee to inquire into the expediency of rebuilding the President's House and the 
Capitol, and the necessary expense for that purpose. The resolution was adopt- 
ed without objection, and a committee appointed, which reported on the 21st of 
November ; and on that day Mr. Lewis obtained leave to bring in a bill making 
an appropriation for repairing or rebuilding in the city of Washington. 

It does not appear that any further proceedings took place in the House in 
regard to the bill introduced by Mr. Lewis ; but on the 8th of February, a bill 
from the Senate to provide for the rebuilding of the President's House and the 
Capitol being under consideration in the House of Representatives, it was 
moved that no part of the money should be expended until the President laid 
before Congress a report stating the principles upon which tlie Capitol, Presi- 
dent's House, and the Post-Office should be rebuilt, with an estimate of the cost. 
This motion was rejected. Then Mr. Stanford, of North Carolina, an ardent 
supporter of the Administration, moved " that the bill be recommitted, with 
instructions to report such change and plan of construction of the public build- 
ings as shall comjiort with the convenience of the Government." This motion 
was lost. Mr. Eppes, of Virginia, as appears by his vote, was of opinion tliat 
the money ought not to be voted without some kind of change in the old plan of 
construction, nor without some plan being laid before the House to show what 
the construction was to be, and the expense of it. Mr. Webster was of this 
opinion also ; and on the third reading of the bill there were 67 yeas and 55 nays, 
and the bill passed. Mr. Webster voted in the negative, and this is the crime 
he is accused of. Mr. Eppes, the Democratic leader of the House, and chairman 
of the Committee of Ways and Means, voted with him. Mr. Farrow, of South 
Carolina, voted vrith him. Mr. Kerr, of Virginia ; Mr. Udree, of Pennsylvania > 
Mr. Taylor, of New York ; Mr. Ingham, of Pennsylvania ; Mr. Murfree, of 
North Carolina ; Mr. Williams, of North Carolina ; Mr. Conard, of Pennsylva- 
nia ; Mr. Stanford, of North Carolina ; and other stanch Democrats, voted with 
Mr. Webster ; and many of Mr. Webster's political friends voted for the bill. 

Tilt? trutli is, it was no party proceeding, and there was no party vote on it ; 
and all that can be made of it is, that Mr. Webster was not willing to vote away 
the money of the people until he knew how it was to be laid out and expended, 
any more than Mr. Eppes. 

Every public man knows, all fair-minded men admit, that justice can be 
done to no man by picking out a vote here and a vote there, and publishing 
them without their proper connection, without accurately stating the occasion, 
and without giving the reason on which they were founded. 



11 

Persevering efforts of this kind have been made against Mr. Web- 
ster many times, and by different hands, but thus far without success. 
The way in which Mr. Webster has himself met them may be learned 
by the following extracts from his speech in reply to Mr. Calhoun, 
on the 22d March, 1838 : — 

" But, sir, before attempting that, he [Mr. Calhoun] has something else to 
say. He had prepared, it seems, to draw comparisons himself. He had intend- 
ed to say something, if time had allowed, upon our respective opinions and con- 
duct in regard to the war. If time had allowed! Sir, time does allow — time 
must allow. A general remark of that kind ought not to be, cannot be, left to 
produce its effect, when that effect is obviously intended to be unfavorable. 
Why did the gentleman allude to my votes, or my opinions, respecting the war, 
at all, unless he had something to say .■" Does he wish to leave an undefined 
impression that something was done, or something said by me, not now capable 
of defence or justification .'' something not reconcilable with true patriotism ? He 
means that, or nothing. And now, sir, let him bring the matter forth; let him 
take the responsibility of the accusation ; let him state his facts. I am here, this 
day, to answer. Now is the time, and now is the hour. I think we read, sir, 
that one of the good spirits would not bring against the arch-enemy of mankind 
a railing accusation ; and what is railing but general reproach — an imputation 
without fact, time, or circumstance .' Sir, I call for particulars. The gentleman 
knows my whole conduct well : indeed, the Journals show it all, from the mo- 
ment I came into Congress till the peace. If I have done, then, sir, any thing 
unpatriotic, any thing which, as far as love of country goes, will not bear com- 
parison with his or any man's conduct, let it now be stated. Give me the fact, 
the time, the manner. He speaks of the war; that which is called the late war, 
though it is now twenty-fi.ve years since it terminated. He would leave an 
impression that I opposed it. How .' I was not in Congress when war was 
declared, nor in public life, any where. 1 was pursuing my profession, and keep- 
ing company with judges, sheriffs, and jurors, and plaintiffs and defendants. If 
I had been in Congress, and had enjoyed the benefit of hearing the honorable 
gentleman's speeches, for all I can say, I might have concurred with him. But 
1 was not in public life. I never had been for a single hour, and was in no situ- 
ation, therefore, to oppose or support the declaration of war. I am speaking to 
the fact, sir; and if the gentleman has any fact, let us know it. 

" Well, sir, I came into Congress during the war. I found it waged and 
raging. And what did I do here to oppose it.' Look to the Journals. Let the 
honorable gentleman tax his memory. Bring up any thing, if there be any thing 
to bring up — not showing error of opinion, but showing want of loyalty or fidel- 
ity to the country. I did not agree to all that was proposed, nor did the honor- 
able gentleman. I did not approve of every measure, nor did he. 

"The war had been preceded by the restrictive system and the embargo. As 
a private individual, I certainly did not think well of these measures. It appeared 
to me the embargo annoyed us as much as our enemies, while it destroyed the 
business and cramped the spirits of the people. 

" In this opinion, I may have been right or wrong, but the gentleman was 
himself of the same opinion. He told us the other day, as a proof of his independ- 
ence of party on great questions, that he differed with his friends on the sub- 
ject of the embargo. He was decidedly and unalterably opposed to it. It fur- 
nishes, in his judgment, therefore, no imputation, either on my patriotism or the 
soundness of my political opinions, that I was opposed to it also. I mean opposed 



12 

in opinion ; for I was not in Congress, and had nothing to do with the act cre- 
ating the embargo. And as to opposition to measures for carrying on the war, 
after I came into Congress, I again say, let the gentleman specify — let him lay 
his finger on any thing, calling for an answer, and he shall have an answer. 

" Mr. President, you were yourself in the House during a considerable part of 
this time. The honorable gentleman may make a witness of you. He may 
make a witness of any body else. He may be his own witness. Give us but 
some fact, some cliarge, something capable in itself either of being proved or 
disproved. Prove any thing not consistent with honorable and patriotic conduct, 
and Lam ready to answer it. Sir, I am glad this subject has been alluded to in 
a manner which justifies me in taking public notice of it ; because I am well 
aware that, for ten years past, infinite pains have been taken to find something, 
in the range of these topics, which might create prejudice against me in tlie 
country. The Journals have all been pored over, and the reports ransacked, and 
scraps of paragraphs and half sentences have been collected, put together in the 
falsest manner, and then made to flare out as if there had been some discovery. 
But all this failed. The next resort was to supposed correspondence. My let- 
ters were sought for, to learn if, in the confidence of private friendship, I had 
never said any thing which an enemy could make use of. With this view, the 
vicinity of my former residence has been searched, as with a lighted candle. 
New Hampshire has been explored, from the mouth of the Merrimack to the 
White Hills. In one instance, a gentleman had left the State, gone five hundred 
miles oif, and died. His papers were examined, a letter was found, and, I 
have understood, it was brought to Washington ; a conclave was held to consid- 
er it; and the result was, that if there was nothing else against Mr. Webster, the 
matter had better be left alone. Sir, I hope to make every body of that opinion 
who brings against me a charge of a want of patriotism. Errors of opinion can 
be found, doubtless, on many subjects ; but as conduct flows from the feelings 
which animate the heart, I know that no act of my life has had its origin in 
the want of ardent love of country. 

" Sir, when I came to Congress, I found the honorable gentleman a leading 
member of the House of Representatives. Well, sir, in what did we differ.' 
One of the first measures of magnitude, after I came here, was Mr. Dallas's 
proposition for a bank. It was a war measure. It was urged as being absolute- 
ly necessary to enable Government to carry on the war. Government wanted 
revenue ; such a bank, it was hoped, would furnish it, and on that account it 
was warmly pressed and urged on Congress. You remember all this, Mr. Pres- 
ident. You remember how much some persons supposed the success of the war 
and salvation of the country depended on carrying that measure. Yet the hon- 
orable member from South Carolina opposed that bill. He now takes to himself 
a good deal of merit — none too much, but still a good deal of merit — for having 
defeated it. Well, sir, I agreed with him. It was a mere paper bank — a mere 
machine for fabricating irredeemable paper. It was a new form for paper 
money ; and, instead of benefiting the country, 1 thought it would plunge it 
deeper and deeper in difficulty. I made a speech on the subject ; it has often 
been quoted. There it is ; let whoever pleases read and examine it. I am not 
proud of it for any ability it exhibits; on the other hand, I am not ashamed of 
it for the spirit which it manifests. But, sir, I say again, the gentleman himself 
took the lead against this measure — this darling measure of the Administration. 
I followed him ; if I was seduced into error, or into unjustifiable opposition, there 
sits my seducer. 

" What, sir, were other leading sentiments, or leading measures, of that day ? 
On what other subjects did men differ .' The gentleman has adverted to one, 



13 

and that a most important one — I mean the na,vy. He says, and says truly, 
that, at the commencement of the war, the navy was unpopular. It was un- 
popular with his friends, who then controlled the politics of the country. But 
ho says he differed with his friends; in this respect he resisted party influence 
and party connection, and was the friend and advocate of the navy. Sir, I 
commend him for it. He showed his wisdom. That gallant little navy soon 
fought itself into favor, and showed that a man who had placed reliance on it 
had not been disappointed. 

" Well, sir, in all this, I was exactly of the same opinion as the honorable 
gentleman. 

" Sir, I do not know when my opinion of the importance of a naval force to 
the United States had its origin. I can give no date to my sentiments on this 
subject, because I never entertained different sentiments. I remember, sir, that 
immediately after coming into my profession, at a period when the navy was 
most unpopular, when it was called by all sorts of hard names, and designated 
by many coarse epithets, — on one of those occasions on which young men ad- 
dress their neighbors, 1 ventured to put forth a boy's hand in defence of the navy. 
1 insisted on its importance, its adaptation to our circumstances and to our 
national character, and its indispensable necessity, if we intended to maintain 
and extend our commerce. These opinions and sentiments I brought into 
Congress ; and, so far as I remember, it was the first, or among the first, times in 
which I presumed to speak on the topics of the day, that I attempted to urge 
on the House a greater attention to the naval service. There were divers 
modes of prosecuting the war. On these modes, or on the degree of attention 
and expense which should be bestowed on each, different men held different 
opinions. I confess I looked with most hope to the results of naval warfare, 
and therefore I invoked Government to invigorate and strengthen that arm of 
the national defence. I invoked it to seek its enemies upon the seas — to go 
v.'here every auspicious indication pointed, and where the whole heart and soul 
of the country would go with it. 

" Sir, we were at war with the greatest maritime power on earth. England 
had gained an ascendency on the seas over the whole combined powers of 
Europe. She had been at war twenty years. She had tried her fortunes on 
the continent, but generally with no success. At one time, the whole continent 
had been closed against her. A long line of armed exterior, an unbroken hos- 
tile array, frowned upon her from the Gulf of Archangel, round the promontory 
of Spain and Portugal, to the foot of the boot of Italy. There was not a port 
which an English ship could enter. Every where on the land the genius of 
her 2reat enemy had triumphed. He had defeated armies, crushed coalitions, 
and overturned thrones ; but, like the fabled giant, he was unconquerable only 
while he touched tlie land. On the ocean he was powerless. That field of 
fame was his adversary's, and her meteor flag was streaming in triumph all 
over it. 

"To her maritime ascendency England owed every thing, and we were now 
at war with her. One of the most charming of her poets has said of her, that 

' Her march is o'er the mountain wave, 
Her home is on the deep.' 

Now, sir, since we were at war with her, I was for intercepting this march ; I 
was for calling upon her, and paying our respects to her at home ; I was for 
giving her to know that we, too, had a right of way over the seas, and that our 
marine officers and our sailors were not entire strangers on the bosom of the 
deep ; I was for doing something more with our navy than to keep it on our 

B 



14 

shores, for the protection of our own coasts and our own liarbors ; I was 
for giving play to its gallant and burning spirit; for allowing it to go forth upon 
the seas, and encounter, on an open and an equal field, whatever the proudest 
or the bravest of the enemy could bring against it. I knew the character of its 
officers, and the spirit of its seamen ; and 1 knew that, in their hands, though 
the flag of the country might go down to the bottom, while they went with it, 
yet that it could never be dishonored or disgraced. 

" Since she was our enemy — and a most powerful enemy — I was for 
touching her, if we could, in the very apple of her eye ; for reaching the high- 
est feather in her cap ; for clutching at the very brightest jewel in her crown. 
There seemed to me to be a peculiar propriety in all this, as the war was under- 
taken for the redress of maritime injuries alone. It was a war declared for free 
trade and sailors' rights. The ocean, therefore, was the proper theatre for 
deciding this controversy with our enemy, and on that theatre my ardent wish 
was, that our own power should be concentrated to the utmost. 

" So much, sir, for the war, and for my conduct and opinions as connected 
with it. And, as I do not mean to recur to this subject often, or ever, unless 
indispensably necessary, I repeat the demand for any charge, any accusation, 
any allegation whatever, that throws me behind the honorable gentleman, or 
behind any other man, in honor, in fidelity, in devoted love to that country in 
which I was born, which has honored me, and which 1 serve. I, who seldom 
deal in defiance, now, here, in my place, boldly defy the honorable member to 
put his insinuation in the form of a charge, and to support that charge by any 
proof whatever." 



CONTENTS. 



Remarks made to the Citizens of Bangor, Maine, August 25, 1835 17 

Speech on receiving a Vase from Citizens of Boston, October 12, 1835. . . . 23 

Speech in the Senate of the United States, January 14, 1836, on Mr. 
Benton's Resolutions for appropriating the Surplus Revenue to 
National Defence 38 

Remarks in the Senate of the United States, March 16, 1836, on present- 
ing sundry Abolition Petitions 59 

Remarks in the Senate of the United States, on the Deposit Banks, March 

17, J836 63 

Remarks in the Senate of the United States, on a Resolution submitted by 
Mr. Benton, on receiving Specie only, in Payment for Public Lands, 
April 23, 1836 65 

Remarks in the Senate of the United States, on the Bill to authorize the 
Purchase, on the Part of the United States, of the Private Stock in the 
Louisville and Portland Canal, May 25, 1836. 73 

Speech in the Senate of the United States, on introducing the Proposition 

for the Distribution of the Surplus Revenue, May 31, 1836 78 

Speech in the Senate of the United States, on the Specie Circular, De- 
cember 21, 1836 89 

Remarks in the Senate of the United States, on the Protest against Ex- 
punging, January 16, 1837 Ill 

Remarks in the Senate of the United States, on presenting a Petition of 
Merchants of New York, for the Establishment of a National Bank, 
February 8, 1837 116 

Remarks in the Senate of the United States, February 20, 1837, in Relation 

to the Manuscript Papers of Mr. Madison 119 

Remarks in the Senate of the United States, in Relation to the Reduction 

of the Duty on Coal, February 24, 1837 122 

Speech delivered in Niblo's Saloon, in New York, on the 15th of March, 

1837 ;i29 

Speech delivered May 17, 1837, at the Dinner given by the Citizens of 
Wheeling, Virginia 165 

Speech delivered at Madison, Indiana, June 1, 1837 174 

Speech delivered in the Senate of the United States, September 14, 1837, 
on the Bill to postpone the Payment of the Fourth Instalment of the 
Deposit to the States 185 

Speech on the Currency, and on the New Plan for collecting and keeping 
the Public Moneys, delivered in the Senate of the United States, Sep- 
tember 28, 1837 : . 195 

15 



16 

Remarks in the Senate of the United States, January 10, 1838, respecting 

Slavery in the District of Columbia 234 

Remarks made in the Senate of the United States, January 17, 1838, in 

Relation to tlie Commonwealth Bank, Boston 239 

Remarks on the Preemption Bill, made in the Senate of the United States, 

January 29, 1838 250 

Speech on the Sub-Treasury Bill, delivered in the Senate of the United 

States, January 31, 1838 259 

Second Speech on the Sub-Treasury Bill, delivered in the Senate of the 

United States, March 12, 1838 277 

Speech in the Senate of the United States, in Answer to Mr. Calhoun, 

March 22, 1838 340 

Speech in Faneuil Hall, July 24, 1838 359 

Remarks in the Senate of the United States, on the Bill to graduate the 

Price of tlie Public Lands, January 14, 1839 375 

Argument in the Supreme Court of the United States, February 9, 1839, 

in the great Appeal Case from the District of Alabama 379 

Address at the Triennial Celebration of the National Agricultural Society, 

Oxford, England, July 18, 1839 400 

Remarks on the Agriculture of England, at a Meeting of Members of the 
Legislature of Massachusetts, and Others interested in Agriculture, 
held at the State House, in Boston, January 13, 1840 404 

Remarks in the Senate of the United States, March 3, 1840, in Answer to 

some Parts of Mr. Calhoun's Speech 416 

Speech in the Senate of the United States, March 30, 1840, on the Treas- 
ury Note Bill 426 

Speech in the Senate of the United States, May 18, 1840, on the proposed 

Amendment to the Bankrupt Bill 442 

Speech in the Senate of the United States, June 5, 1840, on Mr. Clay's 

Motion to strike out the compulsory Part of the Bankrupt Bill 460 

Speech delivered at the Great Mass-Meeting at Saratoga, New York, 

August 19, 1840 472 

Declaration of tlie Principles and Purposes adopted by a General Con- 
vention of the Whigs of New England, at Bunker Hill, on the 10th of 
September, 1840. Prepared by Mr. Webster, and signed by him as 
President of the Convention 498 

Speech at the Merchants' Meeting in Wall Street, New York, September 

28, 1840 508 

Speech delivered in the Capitol Square, during the Whig Convention at 

Richmond, Virginia, October 5, 1840 529 

Remarks to the Ladies of Richmond, Virginia, October 5, 1840 547 

Remarks upon that Part of the President's Message which relates to the 
Revenue and Finances, delivered in the Senate of the United States, 
December 16 and 17, 1840 551 



REMARKS 

MADE TO THE CITIZENS OF BANGOR, MAINE, AUGUST 25, 1835. 



During a visit to Maine, in the summer of 1835, on business connected with 
his profession, Mr. Webster was at Bangor, where he partook of a collation with 
many of the citizens. There were so many more people, however, anxious to 
see and hear him than could be accommodated in the hall of the Hotel, that, 
after the cloth was removed, he was compelled to proceed to the balcony, where, 
after thanking the company for their hospitality, and their manifestation of re- 
gard, he addressed the assembly as follows : — 

Having occasion to come into the State, on professional business, 
I have gladly availed myself of the opportunity to visit this city, the 
growing magnitude and importance of which have recently attracted 
so much general notice. I am happy to say, that I see around me 
ample proofs of the correctness of those favorable representations 
which have gone abroad. Your city, gentlemen, has undoubtedly 
experienced an extraordinary growth ; and it is a growth, I think, 
^yhich there is reason to hope is not unnatural, or greatly dispropor- 
tionate to the eminent advantages of the place. It so happened, 
that, at an early period of my life, I came to this spot, attracted by that 
favorable position, which the slightest glance on the map must satisfy 
every one that it occupies. It is near the head of tide water, on a 
river which brings to it from the sea a volume of water equal to the 
demands of the largest vessels of war, and whose branches, uniting 
here, from great distances above, traverse, in their course, extensive 
tracts, now covered with valuable productions of the forest, and capa- 
ble, most of them, of profitable agricultural cultivation. But at the 
period I speak of, the time had not come for the proper develop- 
ment and display of these advantages. Neither the place itself, nor 
the country, was then ready. A long course of commercial restric- 
tions and embargo, and a foreign war, were yet to be gone throuo-h, 
before the local advantages of such a spot could be exhibited or en- 
joyed, or the country would be in a condition to create an active 
demand for its main products. 

I believe some twelve or twenty houses were all that Bangor could 
enumerate, when I was in it before ; and I remember to have crossed 
the stream, which now divides your fair city, on some floating logs, 

VOL. III. 3 ^7 B* ° 



18 

for the purpose of visiting a former friend and neighbor, who had just 
then settled here, a gentleman always most respectable, and now 
venerable for his age and his character, whom I have great pleasure 
in seeing among you to-day, in the enjoyment of health and happi- 
ness. 

It is quite obvious, Gentlemen, that while the local advantages of 
a noble river, and of a large surrounding country, may be justly con- 
sidered as the original spring of the present prosperity of the city, 
the current of this prosperity has, nevertheless, been put in motion, 
enlarged and impelled, by the general progress of improvement, and 
growth of wealth throughout the whole country. 

At the period of my former visit, there was, of course, neither 
Rail-road nor Steam-boat, nor Canal, to favor communication ; nor 
do I recollect that any public or stage coach came within fifty miles 
of the town. 

Internal Improvement has been the great agent of so favorable 
a change ; and so blended are our interests, that the general activity, 
which exists elsewhere, supported and stimulated by Internal Im- 
provement, pervades and benefits even those portions of the country 
which are locally remote from the immediate scene of the main 
operations of this Improvement. Whatever promotes communica- 
tion — whatsoever extends ""Rneral business — whatsoever encour- 
ages enterprise, or whatsoever advances the general wealth and 
prosperity of other States, must have a plain, direct, and powerful 
bearing on your own prosperity. In truth, there is no town in the 
Union, whose hopes can be more directly staked on the general pros- 
perity of the country, than this rising city. If any thing should in- 
terrupt the general operations of business, — if commercial embar- 
rassment, foreign war, pecuniary derangement, domestic dissension, 
or any other causes, were to arrest the general progress of the public 
welfare, all must see, with what a blasting and withering effect such 
a course must operate on Bangor. 

Gentlemen, I have often taken occasion to say, what circum- 
stances may render it proper now to repeat, that, at the close of the last 
war, a new era, in my judgment, had opened in the United States. 
A new career then lay before us. At peace ourselves with the na- 
tions of Europe, and those nations, too, at peace with one another, 
and the leading civilized States of the world no longer allowing that 
commerce which had been the rich harvest of our neutrality, in the 
midst of former wars, but all now coming forward to exercise their 
own rights, in sharing the commerce and trade of the world, it 
seemed to me to be very plain, that while our commerce was still to 
be fostered with the most zealous care, yet quite a new view of 
things was presented to us, in regard to our internal pursuits and 
concerns. The works of peace, as it seemed to me, had become 
our duties. A hostile exterior, a front of brass, and an arm of iron, 



19 

all necessary in the just defence of the country against foreign ag- 
gression, naturally gave place, in a change of circumstances, to the 
attitude, the objects, and the pursuits of peace. Our true interest, 
as I thought, was to explore our own resources, to call forth and 
encourage labor and enterprise upon internal objects, to multiply the 
sources of employment and comfort at home, and to unite the coun- 
try by ties of intercourse, commerce, benefits, and prosperity, in all 
parts, as well as by the ties of political association. And it appeared 
to me that Government itself clearly possessed the power, and was 
as clearly charged with the duty of helping on, in vaiious ways, this 
great business of Internal Improvement. I have, therefore, steadily 
su]3ported all measures, directed to that end, which appeared to me 
to he within the just power of the Government, and to be practica- 
ble within the limits of reasonable expenditure. And if any one 
would judge how far the fostering of this spirit has been beneficial to 
the country, let him compare its state at this moment, with its con- 
dition at the commencement of the late war ; and let him then say 
how much of all that has been added to national wealth, and national 
strength, and to individual prosperity and happiness, has been the 
fair result of Internal Improvement. 

Gentlemen, it has been yoiir pleasure to give utterance to senti- 
ments, expressing approbation of my humble efforts, on several occa- 
sions, in defence and maintenance of the Constitution of the country. 
I have nothing to say of those efforts, except that they have been 
honestly intended. The country sees no reason, I trust, to suppose 
that on those occasions I have taken counsel of any thing but a deep 
sense of duty. I have, on some occasions, felt myself called on to 
maintain my opinions, in opposition to power, to place, to official in- 
fluence, and to overwhelming personal popularity. I have thought 
it my imperative duty to put forth my most earnest efforts to main- 
tain what I considered to be the just powers of the Government, 
when it appeared to me that those to whom its administration was 
intrusted were countenancing opinions inevitably tending to its 
destruction. And I have, with far more pleasure, on other occa- 
sions, supported the constituted authorities, when I have deemed 
their measures to be called for, by a regard to its preservation. 

The Constitution of the United States, Gentlemen, has appeared 
to me to have been formed and adopted for two grand objects. The 
first is the union of the States. It is the bond of that union, and 
it states and defines its terms. Who can speak, in terms warm 
enough and high enough, of its importance in this respect, or the 
admirable wisdom with which it is formed ? Or who, when he shall 
have stated its past benefits and blessings to those States, most strong- 
ly, will venture to say, that he has yet done it justice? For one, I 
am not sanguine enough to believe, that if this bond of Union were 
dissolved, any other tic, uniting all the States, would take its place 



20 

for generations to come. It requires no common skill, it is no piece 
of ordinary political journey-work, to form a system, which shall hold 
together four-and-twenty separate State sovereignties, the line of 
whose united territories runs down all the parallels of latitude from 
New Brunswick to the Gulf of Mexico, and whose connected 
breadth stretches from the sea far beyond the ^Mississippi. Nor are 
all times, or all occasions, suited to such great operations. It is only 
under the most favorable circumstances, and only when great men 
are called on to meet great exigencies, only once in centuries, that 
such fortunate political results are attained. Whoever, therefore, 
undervalues this National Union, whoever depreciates it, whoever 
accustoms himself to consider how the people might get on without 
it, appears to me to encourage sentiments subversive of the founda- 
tions of our prosperity. 

It is true that those twenty-four States are, more or less, different 
in climate, productions, and local pursuits. There are planting 
States, o-rain-irrowincr States, manufacturing States, and conmiercial 
States. But those several interests, if not identical, are not, there- 
fore, inconsistent and hostile. Far from it. They unite, on the 
contrary, to promote an aggregate result of unrivalled national hap- 
piness. It is not precisely a case in which 

" All nature's difference keeps all nature's peace ; ' ' 

but it is, precisely, a case in which variety of climate and condition, 
and diversities of pursuits and productions, all unite to exhibit one 
harmonious, grand, and magnificent whole, to which the world may 
be proudly challenged to show an equal. In my opinion, no man, 
in any corner of any one of those States, can stand up and declare, 
that he is less prosperous, or less happy, than if the General Govern- 
ment had never existed. And entertaining these sentiments, and 
feeling their force most deeply, I feel it the bounden duty of every 
good citizen, in public and in private life, to follow the admonition 
of Washington, and to cherish that Union which makes us one peo- 
ple. I most earnestly deprecate, therefore, whatever occurs, in the 
Government or out of it, calculated to endanger the Union, or disturb 
the basis on which it rests. 

Another object of the Constitution I take to be such as is com- 
mon to all written Constitutions of Free Governments ; that is, to fix 
limits to delegated authority, or, in other words, to impose constitu- 
tional restraints on political power. Some, who esteem themselves 
Republicans, seem to think no other security for public liberty 
necessary, than a provision for a popular choice of rulers. If politi- 
cal power be delegated power, they entertain little fear of its being 
abused. The people's servants and favorites, they think, may be 
safely trusted. Our fathers, certainly, were not of this school. 
They sought to make assurance doubly sure, by providing, in the 



21 

first place, for the election of political agents by the people them- 
selves, at short intervals, and, in the next place, by prescribing con- 
stitutional restraints on all branches of this delegated authority. It 
is not among the circumstances of the times, most ominous for good, 
that a diminished estimate appears to be placed on those constitu- 
tional securities. A disposition is but too prevalent to substitute 
personal confidence for legal restraint ; to put trust in men rather 
than in principles ; and this disposition being strongest, as it most 
obviously is, whenever party spirit prevails to the greatest excess, 
it is not without reason that fears are entertained of the existence 
of a spirit tending strongly to an unlimited, if it be but an elective, 
Government. 

Surely, Gentlemen, surely this Government can go through no 
such change. Long before that change could take place, the Con- 
stitution would be shattered to pieces, and the Union of the States 
become matter of past history. To the Union, therefore, as well as 
to civil liberty, to every interest which we enjoy and value, to all 
that makes us proud of our country, or our country lovely in our 
own eyes, or dear to our own hearts, nothing can be more repug- 
nant, nothing more hostile, nothing more directly destructive than 
excessive, unlimited, unconstitutional confidence in men ; nothing 
worse than the doctrine that official agents may interpret the public 
will in their own way, in defiance of the Constitution and the laws ; 
or that they may set up any thing for the declaration of that will 
except the Constitution and the laws themselves ; or that any pub- 
lic officer, high or low, should undertake to constitute himself, or to 
call himself iAe Representative of the people, except so far as the 
Constitution and the laws create and denominate him such represen- 
tative. There is no usurpation so dangerous as that which comes 
in the borrowed name of the people. If, from some other authority, 
or other source, prerogatives be attempted to be enforced upon the 
people, they naturally oppose and resist it. It is an open enemy, 
and they can easily subdue it. But that which professes to act, in 
their own name, and by their own authority, that which calls itself 
their servant, although it exercises their power without legal right 
or constitutional sanction, requires something more of vigilance to 
detect, and something more of stern patriotism to repress ; and if it 
be not, seasonably, both detected and repressed, then the Republic 
is already in the downward path of those which have gone before it. 

I hold, therefore. Gentlemen, that a strict submission, by every 
branch of the Government, to the limitations and restraints of the 
Constitution, is of the very essence of all security for the preserva- 
tion of liberty ; and that no one can be a true and intelligent friend 
of that liberty, who will consent that any man in public station, 
whatever he may think of the honesty of his motives, shall exercise 
or enact an authority above the Constitution and the laws. What- 



22 

ever Government is not a Government of Laws, is a despotism, let 
it be called what it may. 

Gentlemen, in the circumstances which surround us, I ought not 
to detain you longer. Let us hope for the best, in behalf of this 
great and happy country, and of our glorious Constitution. Indeed, 
Gentlemen, we may well congratulate ourselves that the country is so 
young, so fresh, so strong and vigorous, that it can bear a great deal 
of bad government. It can take an enormous load of official mis- 
management on its shoulders, and yet go ahead. Like the vessel 
impelled by steam, it can move forward, not only without other than 
the ordinary means, but even when those means oppose it, it can 
make its way in defiance of the elements, and — 

" Afjainst tlie wind, against the tide, 
Still steady, with an upright keel." 

There are some things, however, which the country cannot stand. 
It cannot stand any shock of civil liberty, or any disruption of the 
Union. Should either of these happen, the vessel of the State will 
have no longer either steerage or motion. She will lie on the bil- 
lows helpless and hopeless ; the scorn and contempt of all the 
enemies of free institutions, and an object of indescribable grief to 
all their friends. 

Gentlemen, I offer as a sentiment for the occasion — Civil Lib- 
erty : Its only security is in Constitutional restraint on political 
pow er. 



SPEECH 



ON RECEIVING A VASE FROJI CITIZENS OF BOSTON, 
OCTOBER 12, 1835. 



A LARGE number of the Citizens of Boston being desirous to offer Mr. Web- 
ster some enduring testimony of their gratitude for his services in Congress, and 
more especially for his defence of the Constitution during the crisis of Nullifica- 
tion, a Committee was raised, in the spring of 1835, to procure a piece of plate 
which should be worthy of such an object. By their direction, and more par- 
ticularly under the superintendence of one of their number — the late George 
W. Brimmer, to whose taste and skill the Committee were deeply indebted for the 
selection of the model and the arrangement of the devices — the beautiful Vase, 
now well kncwn throughout the country as the Webster, Vase was pre- 
pared at the manufactory of Messrs. Jones, Lows, & Ball, in Boston. After it 
was finished, the Committee found it impossible to withstand the wish both of the 
numerous subscribers, and of the public generally, to witness the ceremonies and 
hear the remarks by which its presentation might be accompanied. It was ac- 
cordingly presented to Mr. Webster in the presence of three or four thousand 
spectators assembled at the Odeon on the evening of the 12th of October. The 
Vase was placed on a pedestal covered with an American Flag, and contained 
on its front the following inscription : — 

PRESENTED TO 

DANIEL WEBSTER, 

THE DEFENDER OF THE CONSTITUTION, 

BY THE CITIZENS OF BOSTON, 

Oct. 12, 1835. 

Mr. Zachariaii Jellison, the Chairman of the Committee, opened the Meet- 
ing with the following remarks : — 

Fellow Citizens: The friends of the Hon. Daniel Webster in this city, 
conceiving the propriety of jriving that gentleman an expression of the high 
estimation in which they liold his public services, and wishing also to tender 
him a testhnonial of their regard for his moral worth and social virtues, called 
a meeting of consultation on the subject, some months since, at which a 
committea was appointed, with instructions to procure a suitable piece of 
plate, to be presented to him in their behalf, before his official duty should 
again require his departure hence for the seat of government. In obedience 
to their instructions, that committee have procured, from the hands of the 

23 



24 

most skilful artists in tins country, tlie piece of plato I now have the honor 
to exhibit to you. 

They have now called their constituents together, for the purpose of pre- 
senting tliis Vase in their presence. Had the Committee consulted the 
wishes only of the gentleman for whom it is intended, this presentation 
might, perhaps, have taken place in a more private or less imposing manner; 
but, in the course they have adopted, they have been governed by the wishes 
of the citizens at large. They now respectfully ask your kind indulgence 
while they proceed in the discharge of this part of their duty. 

The Committee have appointed, as their organ of communication, the Hon. 
Francis C. Gray, with whom I now have the pleasure to leave the subject. 

Mr. Gray then rose, and spoke as follows: — 

Mr. Webster: By direction of the Committee, and in behalf of your 
fellow-citizens, who have caused this Vase to be made, I now request your 
acceptance of it They offer it in token of their high sense of your public 
character and services. But on these it were not becoming to dwell in ad- 
dressing yourself. Nor is a regard for these the only, or the principal mo- 
tive of those, for whom I speak. They offer it mainly to evince tiie high 
estimation in which they hold the political sentiments and principles, which 
you have professed and maintained. Tliere may undoubtedly be differences 
of opinion among them with regard to this or that particular measure ; and 
a blind, indiscriminate, wholesale adhesion to the life and opinions of any 
one, would not be worth offering, nor worth accepting among freemen. ^V'e 
are not man-worshippers here in Massachusetts. But the great political 
principles, the leading views of policy, which you have been forward to 
assert and vindicate, these they all unite to honor; and in rendering public 
homage to these, they feel, that they are not so much paying a compliment 
to you, as performing a duty to their country. 

In a free republic, where all men exercise political power, the prevalence 
of correct views and principles, on political subjects, is essential to the safety 
of the State. It is not enough that their truth should be recognized. Their 
operation and tendency must be understood and appreciated ; tJiey must bo 
made familiar to the mass of the people, become closely interwoven with 
their whole habits of thought and feeling, objects of attachment, to which 
they may cling instantly and instinctively in all time of doubt or peril, so as 
not to be swept away by any sudden flood of prejudice or passion. Hence 
it is the duty of every man, to embrace all tit occasions, nay, to seek fit 
occasions, for declaring his adherence to such principles, and giving them 
the support of his influence, however high, or however humble that influence 
may be. There is no justice, therefore, in the complaint often made, against 
tiie members of our legislative assemblies, that they sometimes speak not 
for their audience merely, but for their constituents ; seeking not simply to 
affect the decision of the question then pending, but to influence the public 
sentiment with regard to the principles involved in it. This affords no 
ground of censure against them, so they speak well and wisely. The prac- 
tice may be abused, no doubt; but, in itself, it is a natural, inevitable right. 
So it siiould be in relation to all important principles in a free country. 
Nothing else but tiie excitement, kindled by the conflict of debate, will ever 
make those great principles subjects of general attention and interest. 
Nothing else but the observation of their application in practice can rnako 
them generally understood and appreciated. We all recollect questions, 
(and among them that on Mr. Foot's resolutions, not likely soon to be for- 
gotten,) the vote on which was as certainly known before tlie discussion as 
after it, and known to be unalterable by any argument or persuasion ; and 



25 

yet, the discussion of which Avas so free from being uninteresting and un- 
profitable, that it was echoed and re-echoed throurrh the land, making a deep 
and lasting impression on tiie public mind, establishing incontrovertibly 
vital principles before disputed, and thus giving new strength and stability 
to our free institutions, and forming, 1 may almost say, an epoch in our 
political history. 

On this and similar occasions, not to dwell on your steadfast adherence to 
those more general principles of civil liberty, which are equally important 
in every age and country ; on such occasions the fundamental principles 
peculiar to our system of government have always had in you a decided ad- 
vocate, ever ready to develop and illustrate their nature and operation, and 
to enforce the obligations which they impose. Among the most prominent 
peculiarities of our system is the fact that the United States are not a con- 
federacy of independent sovereigns, the subjects of each of whom is respon- 
sible to him alone for their compliance with the obligations of his compact ; 
but that, for certain specified purposes, they form one nation, every citizen 
of which is responsible, directly, immediately, exclusively to the whole na- 
tion for tiie performance of his duties to the whole; that the Constitution 
is not a Treaty, nor any thing like a Treaty ; but a frame of government, 
resting on the same foundations, and supported by the same sanctions, as 
any other government, — to be subverted only by the same means — by revo- 
lution ; — revolution to be brought about by the same authority which would 
warrant a revolution in any government, and by none other, — to be justified, 
when justifiable, by tlie same paramount necessity, and by nothing less. 
This government is not the government of the States, but that of the people ; 
and it behoves the people, every one of the people, to do his utmost to pre- 
ser\'e it ; not in form merely, but in its full efficiency, as a practical system ; 
to maintain the Union as it is, in all its integrity ; the Constitution as it is, 
in all its purity, and in all its strength; — and when they are in danger, to 
hasten to their support promptly, frankly, fearlessly, undeterred, and unen- 
cumbered by any political combination ; let who will be his companions in 
the good cause, and let who will hang back from it. 

The other great peculiarity of our political system, — and on these two hang 
all tiie liberty and hopes of America, — is this — That thp supreme power or 
sovereignty is divided between the State and National governments, and the 
portion allotted to each, distributed among several independent departments ; 
and this, notwithstanding the maxim of European politicians, too hastily 
adopted by some of our own statesmen, that sovereignty is, in its nature, 
indivisible. By sovereignty, I do not mean, and they do not mean, the ulti- 
mate right of the people to establish and subvert governments, the right of 
revolution, as it has been called ; for, thus understood, it would be absurd to 
inquire, as they constantly do, where the sovereignty resides in any particu- 
lar government, since this ultimate sovereignty never can reside any where 
but in the people themselves. It is inherent in them and inalienable, exist- 
ing equally as a right, however its exercise may be impeded, in free and 
despotic governments. But by sovereignty must be understood the supreme 
power of the government, the highest power which can lawfully be exer- 
cised by any constituted authority. Now, let the politicians of Europe say 
what they will of the indivisibility of this power, we know that, among us, 
it is in point of fact divided ; that in relation to some objects, the supreme 
power is in the National government, subject to no earthly control, but that 
of the people, exercising their right of revolution; and that in relation to 
others, it is in the State governments, subject to the same and to no other 
control ; and that in each of these governments the power conferred is 
divided among the Legislative, Executive, and .Judicial departments, each of 
which is entirely independent in the performance of its appropriate duties. 

This system of practical checks and balances, altogether peculiar to us, 

VOL. III. 4 c 



26 

is desigrned to operate, and docs operate for the restraint of power and the 
protection of liberty. But, like every earthly good, it brings with it its 
attendant evil in the danger of encroachment and collision. To guard 
against these dangers is one of the most important, most difficult, most deli- 
cate of our public duties; to see that the National government shall not 
encroach upon the power of the States, nor the States on that of the Nation ; 
that no State shall interfere with the domestic legislation of another, nor 
lightly nor unjustly suspect another of seeking to interfere with its own; 
but that each of these several governments, and every department in each, 
shall be strictly confined to its proper sphere ; that no one shall evade any 
responsibility which is imposed on him by the Constitution and the Laws, 
and no one assume any responsibility, which is not so. 

But by what power can tliis be accomplished ? Tiiere is only one. Physi- 
cal force will not do it The system of our government has been compared 
to that of the heavenly bodies, which move on, orb within orb, cycle within 
cycle, in apparent confusion, but in real, uninterrupted, unalterable harmony. 
And tlie harmony of our system can only be maintained by a power, which, 
like that regulating their movements, is unseen, unfelt, yet irresistible — 
Public Opinion. 

This is the precise circumstance, which renders the prevalence of just 
political views and principles peculiarly important among us, and secures to 
him, who labors faithfully and successfully to promote their diffusion, the 
praise of having deserved well of his country. 

The opinions of men, however, are invariably and inevitably affected by 
their interests and their feelings. This consideration opens a wide field of 
duty to the American Statesman, requiring him to prevent, by every means 
in his power, all collisions of interest and all exasperations of feeling — to 
correct and rebuke the misrepresentations which tend to array one part of 
the country against another, or one portion of society against another, as if 
their interests were adverse, whereas in truth they are one ; — and, avoiding 
the paltry cunning, which plays off the different parts of the country against 
each other, sacrificing the interest of the whole to this part, to-day, on con- 
dition that they shall be sacrificed to another to-morrow, by which means 
they are always sacrificed ; to be governed by that liberal, enlightened, far- 
sighted policy, which, in all questions of expediency, looks invariably and ex- 
clusively to the permanent interests of the whole nation, considered as one ; 
— which aims to impress on the minds and the hearts of this people, deeply, 
indelibly, the great truth, that t!ie prosperity and the glory of the United 
States, their improvement and happiness at home, their rank among the na- 
tions of the earth, must be proportioned to the strength and cordiality of their 
union; — and can only be carried to their highest pitch by the universal 
conviction, the deep-seated and overruling sentiment, that, for the purposes 
set forth in the Constitution, we are one people, one and indivisible ; and 
that for us to break the bond, that makes us one, and resolve this glorious 
Union into its original elements, would be as mad and as fatal as for England 
to go back again to her Heptarchy. 

The statesman, who is governed by these principles and this policy, whoso 
great object is not to win the spoils of victory, nor even its laurels, but to 
fight the good fight and render feitliful service to his country, Avill never 
want opportunity to merit the public gratitude, whatever may be his political 
position. If in the majority, considering that the duration of any Adminis- 
tration is only a day in the existence of the Government, — and yet a day 
which must affect all that are to follow it, — he will never be tempted to swerve 
from these great principles by any temporary advantage, even to the whole 
community, still less by any local or partial benefit; and least of all by any 
party or personal consideration. He will not make it the chief object of 
government to extend and perpetuate the power of his party. He will not 



27 

regard his political opponents as enemies, over whom he has triumphed and 
whom he is to despoil. He will not seek to throw off or evade the restraints 
imposed by the Constitution on all power, nor will he bestow public offices 
as the reward or the motive for adherence to his party or liis person. If in 
the minority, he will find inducement enough and reward enough for the 
most strenuous exertion, in the conviction, that an intelligent, resolute, vigi- 
lant minority is not utterly powerless in our government, but may often con- 
trol, modify, or even arrest the most pernicious schemes of reckless rulers, 
and diminish, if not prevent, the evils of misrule. He will consider also that 
in political science, as in tlie other moral sciences, truth must always force 
its way slowly against general opposition, and that although the great prin- 
ciples, for which he contends, should not triumph in the debate of the day, 
they may yet, if ably sustained, ultimately triumph in the liearts of the peo- 
ple, and come at last to rule the land ; and that, thenceforward, so long as 
tiieir beneficent influence shall endure, so long as they shall be remembered 
upon earth, so long will his name and his praise endure, who shall have 
watched over them in their weakness, and struggled for them in their 
adversity. 

But I must not be tempted beyond the tone which befits the part assigned 
me, which is simply to state the motives and feelings of those for whom I 
speak, on this occasion; and I am sure. Gentlemen, that I am the faithful 
interpreter of your sentiments, when I say, that it is from attachment to the 
great princi))les of civil liberty and constitutional government, that you offer 
this token of respect to one, who lias always maintained them and been gov- 
erned by them ; to one, whom this people, because he has been guided by 
tlioso principles, and for the sake of those principles, delight to honor ; whom 
they honor with their confidence, whom they honor by cherishing tlie mem- 
ory of his past services, and by their best hopes and wishes for the future, 
and whom they will honor, lot who else may shrink and falter, by their cor- 
dial efforts to raise him to that high station, for which so many patriotic 
citizens, in various parts of the country, are now holding him up as a candi- 
date ; and they will do this on the full conviction, tliat he will always be 
true to those principles, wherever his country may call him. 

To this address, Mr. Webster replied as follows : — 

Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen : I accept, with grateful 
respect, the present wliich it is your pleasure to make. I value 
it. It bears an expression of your regard for those political prin- 
ciples which I have endeavored to maintain ; and though the 
material were less costly, or the workmanship less elegant, any 
durable evidence of your approbation could not but give me high 
satisfaction. 

This approbation is the more gratifying, as it is not bestowed 
for services connected with local questions, or local interests, or 
which are supposed to have been peculiarly beneficial to your- 
selves, but for efforts which had tlie interests of the whole country 
for their object, and which were useful, if useful at all, to all who 
live under the blessintrs of the Constitution and Government of the 
United States. 

It is twelve or thirteen years, Gentlemen, since I was honored 
with a seat in Congress, by the choice of the citizens of Boston. 



28 

They saw fit to repeat that choice more than once ; and I embrace, 
witli pleasure, this opportunity of expressing to them my sincere and 
profound sense of obligation for these manifestations of confidence. 
At a later period, the Legislature of the State saw fit to transfer 
me to another place ; and have again renewed that trust, under 
circumstances, which I have felt to impose on me new obligations 
of duty, and an increased devotion to the political welfare of the 
country. These twelve or thirteen years. Gentlemen, have been 
years of labor, and not without sacrifices ; but both have been 
more than compensated by the kindness, the good will, and the 
favorable interpretation with which my discharge of official duties 
has been received. In this changing world, we can hardly say that 
we possess what is present, and the future is all unknown. But 
the past is ours. Its acquisitions, and its enjoyments, are safe. 
And among these acquisitions, among the treasures of the past 
most to be cherished and preserved, I shall ever reckon tlie proofs 
of esteem and confidence, which I have received from the citizens 
of Boston and the Legislature of Massachusetts. 

In one respect. Gentlemen, your present oppresses me. It over- 
comes me, by its tone of commendation. It assigns to me a 
character, of which I feel I am not worthy. "The Defender of 
the Constitution " is a title quite too high for me. He who shall 
prove himself the ablest, among the able men of the country ; he 
who shall serve it longest, among those who may serve it long ; 
he on whose labors all the stars of benignant fortune shall shed 
their selectest influence, — will have praise enough, and reward 
enough, if, at the end of his political and earthly career, though 
that career may have been as bright as the track of the sim across 
the sky, the marble under which he sleeps, and that much better 
record, the grateful breasts of his living countrymen, shall pro- 
nounce him "the Defender of the Constitution." It is enough for 
me, Gentlemen, to be connected, in the most humble manner, with 
the defence and maintenance of this great wonder of modern times, 
and this certain wonder of all future times. It Is enough for me to 
stand in the ranks, and only to be counted as one of its defenders. 

The Constitution of the United States, I am confident, will pro- 
tect the name and the memory, both of its founders and of its 
friends, even of its humblest friends. It will impart to both some- 
thing of its own ever memorable and enduring distinction ; I had 
almost said, somethinfr of its own everlasting remembrance. 
Centuries hence, when the vicissitudes of human affairs shall have 
broken it, if ever they shall break it, into fragments, these very frag- 
ments, every shattered column, every displaced foundation-stone, 
shall yet be sure to bring them all into recollection, and attract to 
them the respect and gratitude of mankind. 

Gentlemen, it is to pay respect to this Constitution, it is to mani- 



29 

fest your attachment to it, your sense of its value, and your devotion 
to its true principles, tbat you have sought tliis occasion. It is not 
to pay an ostentatious personal compliment. If it were, it would be 
unworthy, both of you and of me. It is not to manifest attachment 
to individuals, independent of all considerations of principles ; if it 
were, I should feel it my duty to tell you, friends as you are, that 
you were doing that which, at this very moment, constitutes one of 
the most threatening dangers to the Constitution itself. Your gift 
would have no value, in my eyes ; this occasion would be regarded 
by me as an idle pageant ; if 1 did not know that they are both but 
modes, chosen by you, to signify your attachment to the true prin- 
ciples of the Constitution ; your fixed purpose, so far as in you lies, 
to maintain those principles; and your resolution to support public 
men, and stand by them, so long, and no longer, than they shall 
support and stand by the Constitution of the Country. "The 
Constitution of the Country ! " 

Gentlemen, often as I am called to contemplate this subject, its 
importance always rises, and magnifies itself, more and more, before 
me. I cannot view its preservation as a concern of narrow extent, 
or temporary duration. On the contrary, I see in it a vast interest, 
which is to run down with the generations of men, and to spread 
over a great portion of the earth with a direct, and over the rest 
with an indirect, but a most powerful influence. When I speak of 
it here, in this thick crowd of fellow-citizens and friends, I yet be- 
hold, thronging about me, a much larger and more imposing crowd. 
I see a united rush of the present and the future. I see all the 
patriotic of our own land, and our own time. I see also the many 
millions of their posterity, and I see, too, the lovers of human liberty 
from every part of the earth, from beneath the oppressions of 
thrones, and hierarchies, and dynasties, from amidst the darkness 
of ignorance, degradation, and despotism, into which any ray of 
political light has penetrated ; I see all those countless multitudes 
gather about us, and I hear their united and earnest voices, conjur- 
ing us, in whose charge the treasure now is, to hold on, and hold on 
to the last, by that which is our own highest enjoyment, and their 
best hope. " 

Filled with these sentiments, Gentlemen, and having through my 
political life, hitherto, always acted under the deepest conviction of 
their truth and importance, it is natural that I would have regarded 
the preservation of tiie Constitution as the first great political object 
to be secured. But I claim no exclusive merit. I should deem it, 
especially, both unbecoming and unjust in me, to separate myself, 
in this respect, from other public servants of the people of Massa- 
chusetts. The distinguished gentlemen who have preceded and 
followed me in the representation o( the city, their associates from 
other districts of the State, and my late worthy and most highly- 



30 

esteemed colleague, are entitled, one and all, to a full share in the 
public approbation. If accidental circumstances, or a particular 
position, have sometimes rendered me more prominent, equal patriot- 
ism and equal zeal have yet made tiieni equally deserving. It were 
invidious to enumerate these fellow-laborers, or to discriminate 
among them. Long may they live ! and I could hardly express a 
better wish for the interest and honor of the States, than that the 
pubh'c men, who may follow them, may be as disinterested, as 
patriotic, and as able as they have proved themselves. 

There have been. Gentlemen, it is true, anxious moments. Tliat 
was an anxious occasion, to which the gentleman who has addressed 
me, in your behalf, has alluded ; I mean the debate in January, 
1830. It seemed to me then that the Constitution was about to be 
abandoned. Threatened with most serious dangers, it was not only 
not defended, but attacked, as I thought, and weakened and wound- 
ed in its vital powers and faculties, by those to whom the country 
naturally look for its defence and protection. It appeared to me 
that the Union was about to go to pieces, before the people were at 
all aware of the extent of the danger. The occasion was not 
sought, but forced upon us ; it seemed to me momentous, and I 
confess that I felt that even the little that I could do, in such a 
crisis, was called for by every motive which could be addressed to 
a lover of the Constitution. I took a part in the debate, therefore, 
with my whole heart already in the subject, and, careless for every 
thing in the result, except the judgment which the people of the 
United States should form, upon the questions involved in the dis- 
cussion. I believe that judgment has been definitely pronounced ; 
but nothing is due to me, beyond the merit of having made an 
earnest effort to present the true question to the people, and to 
invoke for it that attention from them, which its high importance 
appeared to me to demand. 

The Constitution of the United States, Gentlemen, is of a peculiar 
structure. Our whole system is peculiar. It is fashioned according 
to no existing model, likened to no precedent, and yet founded on 
principles, which lie at the foundations of all free governments, 
wherever such governments exist. It is a complicated system. It 
is elaborate, and in some sense artificial, in its composition. We 
have twenty-four State sovereignties, all exercising legislative, 
judicial, and executive powers. Some of the sovereignties, or 
States, had long existed, and, subject only to the restraint of the 
power of die parent country, had been accustomed to the forms and 
to the exercise of the powers of Representative Republics. Others 
of them are new creations, coming into existence only under the 
Constitution itself; but all now standing on an equal footing. 

The General Government, under which all these States are united, 
is not, as has been justly remarked by Mr. Gray, a confederation. 



31 

It is much more than a confederation. It is a popular representa- 
tive government, witii all the departments, and all the functions 
and organs of such a government. But it is still a limited, a re- 
strained, a severely-guarded government. It exists under a written 
Constitution, and all that human wisdom could do, is done, to define 
its powers, and to prevent their abuse. It is placed in what was 
supposed to be the safest medium between dangerous authority on 
the one hand, and debility and inefficiency on the other. I think 
that happy medium was found, by the exercise of the greatest politi- 
cal sagacity, and the influence of the highest good fortune. We 
cannot move the system either way, without the probability of 
hurtful change ; and as experience has taught us its safety, and its 
usefulness, when left where it is, our duty is a plain one. 

It cannot be doubted that a system thus complicated must be 
accompanied by more or less of danger, in every stage of its exist- 
ence. It has not the simplicity of despotism. It is not a plain 
column, that stands self-poised and self-supported. Nor is it a 
loose, irregular, unfixed, and undefined system of rule, which admits 
of constant and violent changes, without losing its character. But 
it is a balanced and guarded system ; a system of checks and con- 
trols ; a system in which powers are carefully delegated, and as 
carefully limited ; a system in which the symmetry of the parts is 
designed to produce an aggregate whole, which shall be favorable 
to personal liberty, favorable to public prosperity, and favorable to 
national glory. And who can deny, that by a trial of fifty years, 
this American system of government has proved itself capable of 
conferring all these blessings ? These years have been years of 
great agitation throughout the civilized world. In the course of 
them the face of Europe has been completely changed. Old and 
corrupt governments have been destroyed, and new ones, erected in 
their places, have been destroyed too, sometimes in rapid succession. 
Yet, through all the extraordinary, the most extraordinary scenes of 
this half century, the free, popular, representative government of the 
United States has stood, and has afforded security for liberty, for 
property, and for reputation, to all citizens. 

That it has had many dangers, that it has met critical moments, 
is certain. That it has now dangers, and that a crisis is now before 
it, is equally clear, in my judgment. But it has hitherto been pre- 
served, and vigilance and patriotism may rescue it again. 

Our dangers. Gentlemen, are not from loithout. We have noth- 
ing to fear from foreign powers, except those interruptions of the 
occupations of life which all wars occasion. The dangers to our 
system, as a system, do not spring from that quarter. On the con- 
trary, the pressure of foreign hostility would be most likely to unite 
us, and to strengthen our union, by an augmented sense of its utility 
and necessity. But our dangers are from within. I do not now 



32 

speak of those clangers which have in all ages beset republican gov- 
eminents, such as luxury among the rich, the corruption of public 
officers, and the general degradation of public morals, I speak 
only of those peculiar dangers, to which the structure of our gov- 
ernment particularly exposes it, in addition to all other ordinary 
dangers. These arise among ourselves ; they spring up at home ; 
and the evil which they threaten is no less than disunion, or the 
overthrow of the whole system. Local feelings, and local parties, 
a notion sometimes sedulously cultivated, of opposite interests, in 
different portions of the Union, evil prophecies respecting its dura- 
tion, cool calculations upon the benefits of separation, a narrow 
feeling, that cannot embrace all the States, as one country, an un- 
social, anti-national, and half-belligerent spirit, which sometimes 
betrays itself, — all these undoubtedly are causes which affect, more 
or less, our prospect of holding together. All these are unpropi- 
tious influences. 

The Constitution, again, is founded on compromise, and the most 
perfect and absolute good laith, in regard to every stipulation of this 
kind contained in it, is indispensable to its preservation. Every 
attempt to accomplish even the best purpose, every attempt to grasp 
that which is regarded as an immediate good, in violation of these 
stipulations, is full of danger to the whole Constitution. I need not 
say, also, that possible collision between the General and the State 
Governments, always has been, is, and ever must be, a source of 
danger to be strictly watched by wise men. 

But, Gentlemen, as I have spoken of dangers now, in my judg- 
ment, actually existing, I will state at once my oi^inions on that 
point, without fear, and without reserve. I reproach no man, 1 
accuse no man ; but I speak of things as they appear to me, and I 
speak of principles and practices which I deem most alarming. I 
think, then. Gentlemen, that a great practical change is going on in 
the Constitution, which, if not checked, must completely alter its 
whole character. This change consists in the diminution of the just 
powers of Congress on the one hand, and in the vast increase of 
Executive authority on the other. The government of the United 
States, in the aggregate, or the legislative power of Congress, seems 
fiist losing, one after another, its accustomed powers. One by one, 
they are practically struck out of the Constitution. What has 
become of the power of Internal Improvement ? Does it remain in 
the Constitution, or is it erased by the repeated exercise of the 
President's Veto, and the acquiescence in that exercise of all who 
call themselves his friends, whatever their own opinions of the Con- 
stitution may be ? The power to create a National Bank — a 
power exercised for forty years, approved by all Presidents, and by 
Congress at all times, and sanctioned by a solemn adjudication of 
the Supreme Court — is it not true that party has agreed to strike 



this power, too, from tlie Constitution, in compliance with what has 
been openly called the interests of party ? Nay, more ; that great 
power, the power of protecting Domestic Industry, who can tell me 
whether that power is now regarded as in the Constitution, or out 
of it? 

But, if it be true, that the diminution of the just powers of Con- 
gress, in these particulars, has been attempted, and attempted with 
more or less success, it is still more obvious, I think, that the Exec- 
utive power of the government has been dangerously increased. 
Jt is spread, in the first place, over all that ground, from which the 
legislative power of Congress is driven. Congress can no longer 
establish a Bank, controlled by the laws of the United States, 
amenable to the authority, and open, at all times, to the examina- 
tion and inspection of the legislature. It is no longer constitutional 
to make such a Bank, for the safe custody of the public treasure. 
But of the thousand State corporations already existing, it is Con- 
stitutional for the Executive government to select such as it pleases, 
to intrust the public money to their keeping, without responsibility 
to the laws of the United States, without the duty of exhibiting their 
concerns, at any time, to the Committees of Congress, and with no 
other guards or securities, than such as Executive discretion on the 
one hand, and the Banks themselves on the other, may see fit to 
agree to. 

And so of Internal Improvement. It is not every thing in the 
nature of public improvements, which is forbidden. It is only that 
the selection of objects is not with Congress. Whatever appears 
to the Executive discretion to be of a proper nature, or such as 
comes within certain not very intelligible limits, may be tolerated. 
And even with respect to the Tariff itself, while as a system it is 
denounced as unconstitutional, it is probable some portion of it might 
find favor. 

But it is not the frequent use of the power of the Veto — it is 
not the readiness with which men yield their own opinions, and see 
important powers practically obliterated from the Constitution, in 
order to subserve the interest of the party — it is not even all this, 
which furnishes, at the present moment, the most striking demon- 
stration of the increase of Executive authority. It is the use of the 
power of patronage ; it is the universal giving and taking away of 
all place and office, for reasons no way connected with the public 
service, or the faithful execution of the laws ; it is this which 
threatens with overthrow all the true principles of the Government. 
Patronage is reduced to a system. It is used as the patrimony, the 
property of party. Every office is a largess, a bounty, a favor ; 
and it is expected to be compensated by service and fealty. A 
numerous and well-disciplined corps of office-holders, acting with 
activity and zeal, and with incredible union of purpose, is attempt- 

VOL. III. 5 



34 

ing to seize on the strong posts, and to control, effectually, the 
expression of the public will. As has been said of the Turks in 
Europe, they are not so much mingled with us, as encamped among 
us. And it is more lamentable, that the apathy which prevails in 
a time of general prosperity, produces, among a great majority of 
the people, a disregard to the efforts and objects of this well-trained 
and effective corps. But, Gentlemen, the principle is vicious; it is 
destructive and ruinous ; and whether it produces its work of dis- 
union to-dav or to-morrow, it must produce it in the end. It must 
destroy the balance of the government, and so destroy the govern- 
ment itself. The government of the United States controls the 
army, the navy, the custom-house, the post-office, the land-offices, 
and other great sources of patronage. What have the States to 
oppose to all this ? And if the States shall see all this patronage, 
if they shall see every officer under this government, in all its rami- 
fications, united with every other officer, and all acting steadily in 
a design to produce political effect, even in State governments, is it 
possible not to perceive that they will, erelong, regard the whole 
government of the Union with distrust and jealousy, and finally with 
fear and hatred ? 

Among other evils, it is the tendency of this system to push party 
feelings and party spirit to thuir utmost excess. It involves not only 
opinions and principles, but the pursuits of life and the means of 
living, in the contests of party. The Executive himself becomes 
but the mere point of concentration of party pow er ; and when 
Executive power is exercised or is claimed for the supposed benefit 
of party, party will approve and justify it. When did heated and 
exasperated party ever complain of its leaders for seizing on new 
extents of power ? 

This system of government has been openly avowed. Offices 
of trust are declared, from high places, to be the regular spoils of 
party victory ; and all that is f^n-nished out of the public purse, as a 
reward for labor in the public service, becomes thus a boon, offered 
to personal devotion and partisan service. The uncontrolled power 
of removal is the spring which moves all this machinery ; and I verily 
believe the government is, and will be, in serious danger, till some 
check is placed on that power. To combine and consolidate a 
great party by the influence of personal hopes, to govern by the 
patronage of office, to exercise the power of removal at pleasure, in 
order to render that patronage effectual, — this seems to be the sum 
and substance of the political systems of the times. I am sorry to 
say, that the germ of this system had its first being in the Senate. 

The policy began in the last year of Mr. Adams's administration, 
when nominations made by him to fill vacancies occurring by death 
or resignation, were postponed, by a vote of the majority of the 
Senate, to a period beyond the fourth of March then next ; and this 



35 

was done with no otlier view than that of giving the patronage of 
these appointments to the in-coming President. The nomination 
of a Judge of the Supreme Court, among others, was thus disposed 
of. The regular action of the government was, in this manner, de- 
ranged, and undue and unjustly-ohtained patronage came to be 
received as among the ordinary means of government. Some of the 
gendemen, who concurred in this vote, have since, probably, seen 
occasion to regret it. But they thereby let loose the lion of Execu- 
tive prerogative, and they have not yet found out how they can 
drive it back again to its cage. The debates in the Senate on these 
questions, in the session of 1828, 1829, are not public; but I take 
this occasion to say, that the minority of the Senate, as it was then 
constituted, including, among others, myself and colleague, contended 
against this innovation upon the Constitution, for days and for 
weeks ; but we contended in vain. 

The doctrine of patronage thus got a foothold in the government, 
A general removal from office followed, exciting, at first, no small 
share of public attention ; but every exercise of the power rendered 
its exercise in the next case still easier, till removal at will has be- 
come the actual system on which the government is administered. 

It is hardly a fit occasion. Gentlemen, to go into the history of 
this power of removal. It was declared to exist in the days of 
Washington, by a very small majority in each House of Congress. 
It has been considered as existing to the present time. But no man 
expected it to be used as a mere arbitrary power ; and those who 
maintained its existence, declared, nevertheless, that it would justly 
become matter of impeachment, if it should be used for i)urposes, 
such as those to which the most blind among us must admit they 
have recently seen it habitually apphed. I had the highest respect 
for those who originally concurred in this construction .of the Con- 
stitution.- But, as discreet men of the day were divided on the 
question ; as Madison and other distinguished names were on one 
side, and Gerry and otiier distinguished names on the other, one 
may now differ from either, without incurring the imputation of 
arrogance, since lie must differ from some of them ; and I confess 
my judgment would have been that the power of removal did not 
belong to the President alone ; that it was but a part of the power 
of appointment, since the power of appointing one man to office, 
implies the power of vacating that office, by removing another out 
of it; and as the whole power of appointment is granted, not to the 
President alone, but to the President and Senate, the true interpre- 
tation of the Constitution would have carried the power of removal 
into the same hands. I have, however, so recently expressed my 
sentiments on this point, in another place, that it would be improper 
to pursue this line of observation further. 

In the course of the last session, Gentlemen, several Bills passed 



36 

the Senate, intended to correct abuses, to restrain useless expendi- 
ture, to curtail the discretionary authority of public officers, and to 
control (government patronage. The Post-Office Bill, the Custom- 
House liill, and the J3ill respecting the tenure of office, were all of 
this class. None of them, however, received the favorable consid- 
eration of the other House. I believe, that in all these respects, a 
reform, a real, honest reform, is decidedly necessary to the security 
of the Constitution ; and while I continue in public life, I shall not 
halt in my endeavors to produce it. It is time to bring back the 
government to its true character of an agency for the people. It 
is time to declare that offices, created for the people, are public 
trusts, not private spoils. It is time to bring each and every De- 
partment within its true original limits. It is time to assent, on one 
hand, to the just powers of Congress, in their full extent, and to 
resist, on the other, the progress and rapid growth of Executive 
authority. 

These, Gentlemen, are my opinions. I have spoken them frankly, 
and without reserve. Under present circumstances, I should wish 
to avoid any concealment, and to state my political opinions, in 
their full length and breadth. I desire not to stand before the 
country as a man of no opinions, or of such a mixture of opposite 
opinions, that the result has no character at all. On the contrary, 
I am desirous of standing as one who is bound to his own consisten- 
cy by the frankest avowal of his sentiments, on all important and 
interesting occasions. I am not partly for the Constitution, and 
partly against it ; I am wholly for it, for it altogether, for it as it is, 
and for the exercise, when occasion requires, of all its just powers, 
as they have heretofore been exercised by Washington, and the 
great men who have followed him in its administration. 

I disdain, altogether, the character of an uncommitted man. I 
am connnitted, fully committed; committed to the full extent of all 
tliat I am, and all that I hope, to the Constitution of the country, 
to its love and reverence, to its defence and maintenance, to its warm 
commendation to every American heart, and to its vindication and 
just praise, before all mankind. And I am committed against 
every thing, which, in my judgment, may weaken, endanger, or 
destroy it. I am committed against the encouragement of local 
parties and local feelings ; I am committed against all fostering of 
anti-national spirit ; I am committed against the slightest infringe- 
ment of the original coini)roniise, on which the Constitution was 
founded ; I am connnitted against any and every derangement of 
the powers of the several departments of the Government, against 
any derogation from the Constitutional authority of Congress, and 
especially against all extension of Executive power; and I am 
committed against any attempt to rule the free people of this coun- 
try by the power and the patronage of the Government itself. 1 



37 

am committed, fully and entirely committed, against making the 
government the people's master. 

These, Gentlemen, are my opinions. I have purposely avowed 
them, with the utmost frankness. They are not the sentiments of 
the moment, but tlie result of much reflection, and of some experi- 
ence in the affairs of the country. I believe them to be such senti- 
ments as are alone compatible with the permanent prosperity of the 
country, or the long continuance of its Union. 

And, now, Gentlemen, having thus solemnly avowed these senti- 
ments, and these convictions, if you should find me hereafter to be 
false to them, or to falter in their support, I now conjure you, by 
all the duty you owe your country, by all your hopes of her pros- 
perity and renown, by all your love for the general course of liberty 
throughout the world — I conjure you, that, renouncing me as a 
recreant, you yourselves go on — right on — straight forward, in 
maintaining with your utmost zeal, and with all your power, the 
true principles of the best, the happiest, the most glorious Constitu- 
tion of a free government, with which it has pleased Providence, in 
any age, to bless any of the nations of the earth. 



D 



SPEECH 



IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, JANUARY 14, 1836, ON 
MR. BENTON'S RESOLUTIONS. FOR APPROPRIATING THE SUR- 
PLUS REVENUE TO NATIONAL DEFENCE. 



It is not my purpose, Mr. President, to make any remark on 
the state of our affairs witli France. Tlie time for that discussion 
has not come, and I wait. We are in daily expectation of a com- 
munication from the President, which will give us light ; and we 
are authorized to expect a recommendation by him of such meas- 
ures as he thinks it may be necessary and proper for Congress to 
adopt. I do not anticipate him. I do not forerun hiu). In this 
most important and delicate business, it is the proper duty of the 
Executive to go forward, and I, for one, do not intend either to be 
drawn or driven into the lead. When official information shall be 
before us, and when measures shall be recommended upon the 
proper responsibility, I shall endeavor to form the best judgment I 
can, and shall act according to its dictates. 

1 rise, now, for another purpose. This resolution has drawn on 
a debate upon the general conduct of the Senate during the last 
session of Congress, and especially m regard to the proposed grant 
of the three millions to the President on the last night of the ses- 
sion. ]My main object is to tell the story of this transaction, and 
to exhibit the conduct of the Senate fairly to the public view. I 
owe this duty to the Senate. I owe it to the committee with which 
I am connected ; and although whatever is personal to an individual 
is generally of too little importance to be made the subject of much 
remark, I hoi)e I may be permitted to say that, in a matter, in re- 
gard to which there has been so much misrepresentation, I wish to 
say a few words for the sake of defending my own reputation. 

Tliis vote for the three millions was proposed by the House of 
Representatives as an amendment to the fortification bill ; and the 
loss of that bill, three millions and all, is the charge which has been 
made upon the Senate, sounded over all the land, and now again 
renewed. I propose to give the true history of this bill, its origin, 
its progress, and its loss. 

Before attempting that, however, let me remark, for it is worthy 
to be remarked, and remembered, that the business brought before 
the Senate last session, important and various as it was, and both 

38 



39 

public and private, was all gone through, with most uncommon 
despatch and promptitude. No session has witnessed a more com- 
plete clearing oft" and finishing of the subjects before us. The 
communications from the other House, whether bills or whatever 
else, were especially attended to in a proper season, and with that 
ready respect which is due from one House to the other. 1 recol- 
lect nothing of any importance which came to us from the House 
of Representatives, which was here neglected, overlooked, or dis- 
regarded. 

On the other hand, it was the misfortune of the Senate, and, as 
I think, the misfortune of the country, that, owing to the state of 
business in the House of Representatives towards the close of the 
session, several measures which had been matured in the Senate, 
and passed into bills, did not receive attention, so as to be either 
agreed to or rejected, in the other branch of the Legislature. They 
fell, of course, by the termination of the session. 

Among these measures may be mentioned the following, viz. 

The Post-Office Reform Bill, which passed the Senate 
unanhnomly, and of the necessity for which the whole country is 
certainly now most abundantly satisfied ; 

The Custom-House Regulations Bill, which also passed 
nearly unanimously, after a very laborious preparation by the 
Committee on Commerce, and a full discussion in the Senate ; 

The Judiciary Bill, passed here by a majority of thirty-one 
to five, and which has again already passed the Senate at this ses- 
sion with only a single dissenting vote ; 

The bill indemnifying claimants for French spoliations 
before 1800 ; 

The bill regulating the deposit of the public money 
IN THE Deposit Banks ; 

The bill respecting the tenure of certain offices, ani> 
THE POWER OF REMOVAL FROM OFFICE ; which has uow again 
passed to be engrossed, in the Senate, by a decided majority. 

All these important measures, matured and passed in the Senate 
in the course of the session, and many others whose importance 
was less, were sent to the House of Representatives, and we never 
heard any thing more from them. They there found their graves. 

It is worthy of being remarked, also, that the attendance of 
members of the Senate was remarkably full, particularly toward 
the end of the session. On the last day, every Senator was in his 
place till very near the hour of adjournment, as the Journal will 
show. We had no breaking up for want of a quorum ; no delay, 
no calls of the Senate ; nothing which was made necessary by the 
negligence or inattention of the members of this body. On die 
vote of the three millions of dollars, which was taken at about eight 
o'clock in the evening, forty-eight votes were given, every member 
• f the Senate being in his place and answering to his name. This 



40 

is an instance of punctuality, diligence, and labor, continued to 
the very end of an arduous session, wholly without example or 
parallel. 

The Senate, then, sir, must stand, in the judgment of every 
man, fully acquitted of all remissness, all negligence, all inattention, 
amidst the fatigue and exhaustion of the closing hours of Congress. 
Nothing passed unheeded, nothing was overlooked, nothing forgot- 
ten, and nothing slighted. 

And now, sir, I would proceed immediately to give the history 
of the Fortification Bill, if it were not necessary, as introductory to 
that history, and as showing the circumstances under which the 
Senate was called on to transact the public business, first to refer 
to another bill which was before us, and to the proceedings which 
were had upon it. 

It is well known, sir, that the annual appropriation bills always 
originate in the House of Representatives. This is so much the 
course, that no one ever looks to see such a bill first broug-ht for- 
ward in the Senate. It is also well known, sir, that it has been 
usual, heretofore, to make the annual appropriations for the Mili- 
tary Academy at West Point, in the general bill, which provides 
for the pay and support of the army. But last year the army bill 
did not contain any appropriation whatever for the support of West 
Point. I took notice of this singular omission when the bill was 
before the Senate, but presumed, and indeed understood, that the 
House would send us a separate bill for the Military Academy. 
The army bill, therefore, passed ; but no bill for the Academy at 
West Point appeared. We waited for it from day to day, and 
from week to week, but waited in vain. At length, the time for 
sending bills from one House to the other, according to the joint 
rules of the two Houses, expired, and no bill had made its appear- 
ance for the support of the Military Academy. These joint rules, 
as is well known, are sometimes suspended on the application of 
one House to the other, in favor of particular bills, whose progress 
iias been unexpectedly delayed, but which the public interest re- 
quires to be passed. But the House of Representatives sent us no 
request to suspend the rules in favor of a bill for the support of the 
Military Academy, nor made any other propositions to save the 
Institution from immediate dissolution. Notwithstanding all the 
talk about a war, and the necessity of a vote for the three millions, 
the Military Academy, an institution cherished so long, and at 
so much expense, was on the very point of being entirely bro- 
ken up. 

Now it so happened, sir, that at this time there was another ap- 
propriation bill which had come from the House of Representatives, 
and was before the Committee on Finance here. This bill was 
entitled " An act making appropriations for the civil and diplomatic 
expenses of the Government for the year 1835.'' 



41 

In this state of things, several members of the House of Repre- 
sentatives applied to the committee, and besought us to save the 
Academy by annexing the necessary appropriations for its support 
to the bill for civil and diplomatic service. We spoke to them, in 
reply, of the unfitness, the irregularity, the incongruity, of this 
forced union of such dissimilar subjects ; but they told us it was a 
case of absolute necessity, and that, without resorting to this mode, 
the appropriation could not get through. We acquiesced, sir, in 
these suggestions. We went out of our way. We agreed to do 
an extraordinary and an irregular thing, in order to save the public 
business from miscarriage. By direction of the committee, I moved 
the Senate to add an appropriation for the Military Academy to 
the bill for defraying civil and diplomatic expenses. The bill was 
so amended ; and in this form the appropriation was finally made. 

But this was not all. This bill for the civil and diplomatic ser- 
vice being thus amended, by tacking the Military Academy upon 
it, was sent back by us to the House of Representatives, where its 
length of tail was to be still much further increased. That House 
had before it several subjects for provision, and for appropriation, 
upon which it had not passed any bill, before the time for passing 
bills to be sent to the Senate had elapsed. I was anxious that 
these things should, in some way, be provided for ; and when the 
diplomatic bill came back, drawing the Military Academy after it, 
it was thought prudent to attach to it various of these other pro- 
visions. There were propositions to pave the streets in the city of 
Washington, to repair the Capitol, and various other things, which 
it was necessary to provide for ; and they, therefore, were put into 
the same bill by way of amendment to an amendment ; that is to 
say, Mr. President, we had been prevailed on to amend their bill 
for defraying the salary of our ministers abroad, by adding an ap- 
propriation for the Military Academy ; and they proposed to amend 
this our amendment, by adding to it matter as germain to it, as it 
was to the original bill. There was also the President's gardener. 
His salary was unprovided for ; and there was no way of remedy- 
ing this important omission, but by giving him place in the diplo- 
matic service bill, among charges d'affaires, envoys extraordinary, 
and ministers plenipotentiary. In and among these ranks, there- 
fore, he was formally introduced by the amendment of the House, 
and there he now stands, as you will readily see, by turning to the 
law. 

Sir, I have not the pleasure to know this useful person ; but, 
should I see him, some morning, overlooking the workmen in the 
lawns, walks, copses, and parterres which adorn the grounds around 
the President's residence, considering the company into which we 
have introduced him, I should expect to see, at least, a small di- 
plomatic button on his working jacket. 

VOL. III. 6 D* 



42 

When these amendments came from the House, and were read 
at our table, tliough they caused a smile, they were yet adopted, 
and the law passed, almost with the rapidity of a comet, and with 
somethino; like the same length of tail. 

Now, sir, not one of these irregularities or incongruities, no part 
of this jumbling together of distinct and different subjects, was, in 
the slightest degree, occasioned by any thing done, or omitted to 
be don°e, on the part of the Senate. Their proceedings were all 
regular ; their decision prompt, their despatch of the public busi- 
ness correct and reasonable. There was nothing of disorganization, 
nothing of procrastination, nothing evincive of a temper to embar- 
rass or obstruct the public business. If the history which I have 
now truly given, shows that one thing was amended by another, 
which had no sort of connection with it, that unusual expedients 
were resorted to, and that the laws, instead of arrangement and 
symmetry, exhibit anomaly, confusion, and the most grotesque as- 
sociations, it is, nevertheless, true, that no part of all this was made 
necessary by us. We deviated from the accustomed modes of 
legislation only when we were supplicated to do so, in order to 
supply bald and glaring deficiencies in measures which were be- 
fore us. 

But now, Mr. President, let me come to the Fortification Bill, 
the lost bill, which not only now, but on a graver occasion, has 
been lamented like the lost Pleiad. 

This bill, sir, came from the House of Representatives to the 
Senate, in the usual way, and was referred to the Committee on 
Finance. Its appropriations were not large. Indeed, they ap- 
peared to the committee to be quite too small. It struck a majori- 
ty of the committee at once that there were several fortifications 
on the coast, either not provided for at all, or not adequately pro- 
vided for by this bill. The whole amount of its appropriations 
was 400,000 or 430,000 dollars. It contained no grant of three 
millions, and if the Senate had passed it the very day it came from 
the House, not only would there have been no appropriation of the 
three millions, but, sir, none of these other sums which the Senate 
did insert in the bill. Others, besides ourselves, saw the deficien- 
cies of this bill. We had communications v^ith and from the De- 
partments, and we inserted in the bill every thing which any De- 
partment recommended to us. We took care to be sure that 
nothing else was coming. And we then reported the bill to the 
Senate with our proposed amendments. Among these amend- 
ments, there was a sum of {^75,000 for Castle Island, in Boston, 
^100,000 for defences in Maryland, and so forth. These amend- 
ments were agreed to by the Senate, and one or two others added, 
on the motion of members ; and the bill, being thus amended, was 
returned to the House. 



43 

And now, sir, it becomes important to ask when was this bill, 
thus amended, returned to the House of Representatives ? Was it 
unduly detained here, so that the House was obliged afterwards to 
act upon it suddenly ? This question is material to be asked, and 
material to be answered, too, and the Journal does satisfactorily 
answer it ; for it appears by the Journal that the bill was returned 
to the House of Representatives on Tuesday, the 24th of Februa- 
ry, one whole iveek before the dose of the session. And from 
Tuesday, the 24th of February, to Tuesday, the 3d day of March, 
we heard not one word from this bill. Tuesday, the 3d day of 
JMarch, was, of course, the last day of the session. We assembled 
here at 10 or 11 o'clock in the morning of that day, and sat until 
three in the afternoon, and still we were not informed whether the 
House had finally passed the bill. As it was an important matter, 
and belonged to that part of the public business which usually re- 
ceives particular attention from the Committee on Finance, I bore 
the subject in my mind, and felt some solicitude about it, seeing 
that the session was drawing so near to a close. I took it for 
granted, however, as I had not heard any thing to the contrary, 
that the amendments of the Senate would not be objected to, and 
that when a convenient time should amve for taking up the bill in 
the House, it would be passed at once into a law, and we should 
hear no more about it. Not the slightest intimation was given, 
either that the Executive wished for any larger appropriation, or 
that it was intended in the House to insert such larger appropriation. 
Not a syllable escaped from any body, and came to our knowledge, 
that any further alteration whatever was intended in the bill. 

At 3 o'clock in the afternoon of the 3d of March, the Senate 
took its recess, as is usual in that period of the session, until 5. 
At 5, we again assembled, and proceeded with the business of the 
Senate until S o'clock in the evening ; and, at 8 o'clock in the 
evening, and not before, the Clerk of the House appeared at our 
door, and announced that the House of Representatives had disa- 
greed to one of the Senate's amendments, agreed to others ; and to 
two of those amendments, viz. the 4th and 5lh, it had agreed, with 
an amendment of its own. 

Now, sir, these 4th and 5th amendments of ours were, one, a 
vote of !^ 75,000 for the castle in Boston harbor, and the other, a 
vote of ^100,000 for certain defences in Maryland. And what, 
sir, was the addition which the House of Representatives proposed 
to make, by way of " amendment " to a vote of ,^'75,000 for repair- 
ing the works in Boston harbor ? Here, sir, it is : 

" And he it further enacted, That the sum of three millions of 
dollars be, and the same is hereby appropriated, out of any money 



44 

in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to be expended, in 
whole or in part, under the direction of the President of the United 
States, for the military and naval service, including fortifications and 
ordnance, and increase of the navy : Provided, such expenditures 
shall be rendered necessary for the defence of the country prior to 
the next meeting of Congress." 

This proposition, sir, was thus unexpectedly and suddenly put to 
us, at eight o'clock in the evening of the last day of the session. 
Unusual, unprecedented, extraordinary, as it obviously is, on the 
face of it, the manner of presenting it was still more extraordinary. 
The President had asked for no such grant of money ; no Depart- 
ment had recommended it ; no estimate had suggested it ; no rea- 
son wliatever was given for it. INo emergency had happened, and 
nothing new had occurred ; every thing known to the Administra- 
tion, at that hour, respecting our foreign relations, had certainly 
been known to it for days and weeks. 

With what propriety, then, could the Senate be called on to 
sanction a proceeding so entirely irregular and anomalous ? Sir, I 
recollect the occurrences of the moment very well, and I remember 
the impression which this vote of the House seemed to make all 
round the Senate. We had just come out of Executive session ; 
the doors were but just opened ; and I hardly remember whether 
there was a single spectator in the hall or the galleries. I had been 
at the Clerk's table, and had not reached my seat, when the mes- 
sage was read. All the Senators were in the chamber. I heard 
the message, certainly with great surprise and astonishment ; and 
I immediately moved the Senate to disagree to this vote of the 
House. INIy relation to the subject, in consequence of my con- 
nection with the Committee on Finance, made it my duty to pro- 
pose some course, and I had not a moment's doubt or hesitation 
what that course ought to be. I took upon myself, then, sir, the 
responsibility of moving that the Senate should disagree to this 
vote, and I now acknowledge that responsibility. It might be pre- 
sumptuous to say that I took a leading part, but I certainly took an 
early part, a decided part, and an earnest part, in rejecting this 
broad grant of three millions of dollars, without limitation of pur- 
pose or sjKJcification of object ; called for by no recommendation, 
founded on no estimate, made necessary by no state of things which 
was made known to us. Certainly, sir, 1 took a part in its rejec- 
tion ; and I stand here, in my place in the Senate, to-day, ready to 
defend the part so taken by me ; or, rather, sir, I disclaim all de- 
fence, and all occasion of defence, and I assert it as meritorious to 
have been among those who arrested, at the earliest moment, this 
extraordinary departure from all settled usage, and, as I think, from 
plain constitutional injunction — this indefinite voting of a vast sum 



45 

of money, to mere Executive discretion, without limit assigned, 
without object specified, without reason given, and without the 
least control under Heaven. 

Sir, I am told, that, in opposing this grant, I spoke with warmth, 
and I suppose I may have done so. If I did, it was a warmth 
springing from as honest a conviction of duty as ever influenced a 
public man. It was spontaneous, unaffected, sincere. There had 
been among us, sir, no consultation, no concert. There could have 
been none. Between the reading of the message, and my motion 
to disagree, there was not time enough for any two members of 
the Senate to exchange five words on the subject. The proposi- 
tion was sudden and perfectly unexpected. I resisted it, as irregu- 
lar, as dangerous in itself, and dangerous in its precedent ; as whol- 
ly unnecessary, and as violating the plain intention, if not the 
express words of the Constitution. Before the Senate, then, I 
avowed, and before the country I now avow, my part in this oppo- 
sition. Whatsoever is to fall on those who sanctioned it, of that 
let me have my full share. 

The Senate, sir, rejected this grant by a vote of twenty-nine 
against nineteen. Those twenty-nine names are on the Journal ; 
and whensoever the expunging process may commence, or how- 
far soever it may be carried, I pray it, in mercy, not to erase mine 
from that record. I beseech it, in its sparing goodness, to leave 
me that proof of attachment to duty and to principle. It may 
draw around it, over it, or through it, black lines, or red lines, or 
any lines ; it may mark it in any way which either the most pros- 
trate and fantastical spirit of man-ivorship, or the most ingenious 
and elaborate study of self-degradation, may devise, if only it will 
leave it so that those who inherit my blood, or who may hereafter 
care for my reputation, shall be able to behold it where it now 
stands. 

The House, sir, insisted on this amendment. The Senate ad- 
hered to its disagreement ; the House asked a conference, to which 
request the Senate immediately acceded. The committees of 
conference met, and, in a very short time, came to an agreement. 
They agreed to recommend to their respective Houses, as a sub- 
stitute for the vote proposed by ttie House, the following : 

" As an additional appropriation for arming the fortifications of 
the United States, three hundred thousand dollars." 

" As an additional appropriation for the repairs and equipment 
of ships of war of the United States, five hundred thousand 
dollars." 

I immediately reported this agreement of the committees of 
conference to the Senate; but, inasmuch as the bill was in the 
House of Representatives, the Senate could not act further on the 
matter until the House should first have considered the report of 



46 

the committees, decided thereon, and sent us the bill. I did not 
myself take any note of the particular hour of this part of the 
transaction. The honorable member from Virginia (Mr. Leigh) 
says he consulted his watch at the lime, and he knows that I had 
come from the conference, and was in my seat at a quarter past 
eleven. 1 have no reason to think that he is under any mistake 
on this particular. He says it so happened that he had occasion 
to take notice of the hour, and well remembers it. It could not 
well have been later than this, as any one will be satisfied who will 
look at our journals, public and executive, and see what a mass of 
business was despatched after I came from the committees, and 
before the adjournment of the Senate. Having made the report, 
sir, I had no doubt that both Houses would concur in the result of 
the conference, and looked every moment for the officer of the 
House bringing the Bill. He did not come, however, and I pretty 
soon learned that there was doubt whether the committee on the 
part of the House would report to the House the agreement of 
the conferees. At first, I did not at all credit this ; but was con- 
firmed by one communication after another, until I was obliged to 
think it true. Seeing that the bill was thus in danger of being 
lost, and intending at any rate that no blame should jusdy attach 
to the Senate, I immediately moved the following resolution : 

" Resolved, That a message be sent to the honorable the House 
of Representatives respectfully to remind the House of the report 
of the committee of conference appointed on the disagreeing votes 
of the two Houses on the amendment of the House to the amend- 
ment of the Senate to the bill respecting the fortificating of the 
United States." 

You recollect this resolution, sir, having, as I well remember, 
taken some part on the occasion.* 

This resolution was promptly passed ; the Secretary carried it 
to the House, and delivered it. What was done in the House on 
the receipt of this message now appears from the printed journal. 
I have no wish to comment on the proceedings there recorded — 
all may read them, and each be able to form his own opinion. 
Suffice it to say that the House of Representatives, having then 
possession of the bill, chose to retain that possession, and never 
acted on the report of the committee. The bill, therefore, was lost. 
Itwas lost in the House of Representatives. It died there, and there 
its remains are to be found. No opportunity was given to the mem- 
bers of the I louse to decide whether they would agree to die report of 
the two committees or not. From a quarter past eleven, when the 
report was agreed to, until two or three o'clock in the morning, the 
House remained in session. If at any time there was not a quo- 

* Mr. King, of Alabama, was in the cliair. 



47 

rum of members present, the attendance of a quorum, we are to 
presume, mit^ht have been commanded, as there was undoubtedly 
a great majority of the members still in the city. 

But now, sir, there is one other transaction of the evening, which 
I feel bound to state, because I think it quite important, on several 
accounts, that it should be known. 

A nomination was pending before the Senate for a Judge of the 
Supreme Court. In tlie course of the sitting, that nomination was 
called up, and, on motion, was indefinitely postponed. In other 
\yords, it was rejected ; for an indefinite postponement is a rejec- 
tion. The office, of course, remained vacant, and the nomination 
of another person to fill it became necessary. The President of 
the United States was then in the Capitol, as is usual on the even- 
ing of the last day of the session, in the chamber assigned to him, 
and with the heads of Departments around him. When nominations 
are rejected under these circumstances, it has been usual for the 
President immediately to transmit a new nomination to the Senate ; 
otherwise the office must remain vacant till the next session, as the 
vacancy in such case has not happened in the recess of Congress. 
The vote of the Senate, indefinitely postponing this nomination, was 
carried to the President's room by the Secretary of the Senate. 
The President told the Secretary that it was more than an hour 
past 12 o'clock, and that he could receive no further communica- 
tions from the Senate, and immediately after, as I have understood, 
left the Capitol. The Secretary brought back the paper contain- 
ing the certified copy of the vote of the Senate, and endorsed there- 
on the substance of the President's answer, and also added that, 
according to his own watch, it was quarter past one o'clock. 

There are two views, sir, in which this occurrence may well 
deserve to be noticed. One is a connection which it may perhaps 
have with the loss of the Fortification bill ; the other is, its general 
importance, as introducing a new rule, or a new practice, respect- 
ing the intercourse between the President and the House of Con- 
gress on the last day of the session. 

On the first point, I shall only observe that the flict of the Presi- 
dent's having declined to receive this communication from the Sen- 
ate, and of his having left the Capitol, was immediately known in the 
House of Representatives ; that it was quite obvious that if he could 
not receive a communication from the Senate, neither could he re- 
ceive a bill from jhe House of Representatives for his signature. 
It was equally obvious, that if, under these circumstances, the 
House of Representatives should agree to the report of the com- 
mittee of,conference, so that the bill should pass, it must, neverthe- 
less, fail to become a law, for want of the President's signature ; and 
that, in that case, the blame of losing the bill, on whomsoever else 
it might fall, could not be laid upon the Senate. 



48 

On the more general point, I must say, sir, that this decision of 
the President, not to hold counnunication with the Houses of Con- 
gress after 12 o'clock, on the 3d of March, is quite new. No such 
objection has ever been made before, by any President. No one 
of them has ever declined communicating with either House at any 
time during the continuance of its session on that day. All Presi- 
dents, heretofore, have left it with the Houses themselves to fix 
their hour of adjournment, and to bring their session, for the day, to 
a close, \\ henever they saw fit. 

It is notorious, in point of fact, that nothing is more common than 
for both Houses to sit later than 12 o'clock, for the purpose of com- 
pleting measures which are in the last stages of their progress. 
Amendments are proposed and agreed to, bills passed, enrolled 
bills signed by the presiding officers, and other important legisla- 
tive acts performed, often at 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning. All 
this is very well known to gentlemen who have been for any con- 
siderable time members of Congress. And all Presidents have 
signed bills, and have also made nominations to the Senate, without 
objection as to time, whenever bills have been presented for sig- 
nature, or whenever it became necessary to make nominations to 
the Senate, at any time during the session of the respective Houses 
on that day. 

And all this, sir, I suppose to be perfectly right, correct, and 
legal. There is no clause of the Constitution, nor is there any law, 
which declares that the term of office of members of the House 
of Representatives shall expire at twelve o'clock at night on the 
3d of March. They are to hold for two years, but the precise 
hour for the commencement of that term of two years is no where 
6xed by constitutional or legal provision. It has been established 
by usage and by Inference, and very properly established, that, 
since the first Congress commenced its existence, on the first 
Wednesday in March, 1789, which happened to be the 4th day 
of the month, therefore, the 4th of March is the day of the com- 
mencement of each successive term, but no hour is fixed by law or 
practice. The true rule is, as I think, n)ost undoubtedly, that the 
session holden on the last day constitutes the last day, for all legis- 
lative and legal purposes. While the session commenced on that 
day continues, the day Itself continues, according to the established 
practice both of legislative and judicial bodies. This could not 
well be otherwise. If the precise moment of actual time were to 
settle such a matter, it would be material to ask, who shall settle 
the time ? Shall it be done by public authority, or shall every man 
observe the tick of his own watch ? If absolute time is to furnish 
a precise rule, the excess of a minute, it is obvious, would be as 
fatal as the excess of an hour. Sir, no bodies, judicial or legis- 
lative, have ever been so hypercritical, so astute to no purpose, so 



49 

much more nice than wise, as lo govern themselves by any such 
ideas. The session for the day, at whatever hour it commences, 
or at whatever hour it breaks up, is the legislative day. Every 
thing has reference to tlie commencement of that diurnal session. 
For instance, this is the 14th day of January ; we assembled here 
to-day at 12 o'clock; our journal is dated January 14th, and if 
we should remain here until 5 o'clock to-morrow morning, (and 
the Senate has sometimes sat so late,) our proceedings would still 
bear date of the 14th of January ; they would be so stated upon 
the journal, and the journal is a record, and is a conclusive record, 
so far as respects the proceedings of the body. 

It is so in judicial proceedings. If a man were on trial for his 
life, at a late hour on the last day allowed by law for the holding 
of the court, and the jury acquitted him, but happened lo remain 
so long in deliberation ^hat they did not bring in their verdict till 
after 12 o'clock, is it all to be held for nought, and the man to 
be tried over again ? Are all verdicts, judgments, and orders of 
courts, null and void, if made after midnight, on the day which the 
law prescribes as the last day ? It would be easy to show by 
authority, if authority could be wanted for a thing, the reason of 
which is so clear, that the day lasts while the daily session lasts. 
When the court or the legislative body adjourns for that day, the 
day is over, and not before. 

I am told, indeed, sir, that it is true that, on this same 3d day 
of March last, not only were other things transacted, but that the 
bill for the repair of the Cumberland road, an important and much 
litigated measure, actually received the signature of our presiding 
officer after 12 o'clock, was then sent to the President, and signed 
by him. I do not affirm this, because I took no notice of the time, or 
do not remember it if I did ; but I have heard the matter so stated. 

I see no reason, sir, for the introduction of this new practice ; no 
principle on which it can be justified, no necessity for it, no pro- 
priety in it. As yet, it has been applied only to the President's 
intercourse with the Senate. Certainly it is equally applicable to 
his intercourse with both Houses in legislative matters ; and if it is 
to prevail hereafter, it is of much importance that it should be 
known. 

The President of the United States, sir, has alluded to this loss 
of the Fortification bill in his message at the opening of the session, 
and he has alluded also, in the same message, to the rejection of 
the vote of the three millions. On the first point, that is, the loss 
of the whole bill, and the causes of that loss, this is his language: — 

" Much loss and inconvenience have been experienced in conse- 
quence of the failure of the bill containing the ordinary appropria- 
tions for fortifications, which passed one branch of the National 
Legislature at the last session, but was lost in the other." 

VOL. III. 7 E 



50 

If the President intended to say that the bill, having originated 
in the House of Representatives, passed the Senate, and was yet 
afterwards lost in the House of Representatives, he was entirely 
correct. But he has been altogether wrongly informed, if he in- 
tended to state, that the bill, having passed the House, was lost in 
the Senate. As I have already stated, the bill was lost in the 
House of Representatives. It drew its last breath there. That 
House never let go its hold on it after the report of the committees 
of conference. But it held it, it retained it, and of course, it died 
in its possession when the House adjourned. It is to be regretted 
that the President should have been misinformed in a matter of this 
kind, when the slightest reference to the journals of the two Houses 
would have exhibited the correct history of the transaction. 

I recur again, Mr. President, to the proposed grant of the three 
millions, for the purpose of stating somewhat more distinctly the 
true grounds of objection to that grant. 

These grounds of objection were two : the first was, that no 
such appropriation had been recommended by the President, or 
any of the Departments. And what made this ground the stronger 
was, that the proposed grant was defended, so far as it was de- 
fended at all, upon an alleged necessity, growing out of our foreign 
relations. The foreign relations of the country are intrusted by the 
Constitution to the lead and management of the Executive Gov- 
ernment. The President not only is supposed to be, but usually 
is, much better informed on these interesting subjects than the 
Houses of Congress. If there be a danger of rupture with a for- 
eign State, he sees it soonest. All our ministers and agents abroad 
are but so many eyes, and ears, and organs, to communicate to him 
whatsoever occurs in foreign places, and to keep him well advised 
of all which may concern the interests of the United States. 
There is an especial propriety, therefore, that, in this branch of the 
public service. Congress should always be able to avail itself of the 
distinct opinions and recommendations of the President. The two 
Houses, and especially the House of Representatives, are the nat- 
ural guardians of the People's money. They are to keep it sacred, 
and to use it discreetly. They are not at liberty to spend it where 
it is not needed, nor to offer it for any purpose till a reasonable 
occasion for the expenditure be shown. Now, in this case, I re- 
peat, again, the President had sent us no recommendation for any 
such appropriation ; no Department had recommended it ; no esti- 
mate had contained ii ; in the whole history of the session, from 
the morning of the first day, down to 8 o'clock in the evening of 
the last day, not one syllable had been said to us, not one hint 
suggested, showing that the President deemed any such measure 
either necessary or proper. 1 state this strongly, sir, but I state it 
truly : I state the matter as it is ; and I wish to draw the attention 



51 

of the Senate and of the country strongly to this part of the case. 
I say again, therefore, that when this vote for the three milhons was 
proposed to the Senate, there was nothing before us, showing that 
the President recommended any such appropriation. You very 
well know, sir, that this objection was immediately stated as soon 
as the message from the House was read. We all well remember 
that was the very point put forth by the honorable member from 
Tennessee, (Mr. White,) as being, if I may say so, the butt-end of 
his argument in opposition to the vote. He said, very significantly, 
and very forcibly, " It is not asked for by those who best know 
what the public service requires ; how then are we to presume that 
it is needed?" This question, sir, was not answered then: it never 
has been answered since ; it never can be answered satisfactorily. 

But let me here again, sir, recur to the message of the President. 
Speaking of the loss of the bih, he uses these words: — 

" This failure was the more regretted, not only because it neces- 
sarily interrupted and delayed the progress of a system of national 
defence projected immediately after the last war, and since steadily 
pursued, but also because it contained a contingent appropriation, 
inserted in accordance with the views of the Executive, in aid of 
this important object, and other branches of the national defence, 
some portions of which might have been most usefully applied 
during the past season." 

Taking these words of the message, sir, and connecting them 
with the fact that the President had made no recommendation to 
Congress of any such appropriation, it strikes me they furnish mat- 
ter for very grave reflection. The President says that this pro- 
posed appropriation was " in accordance with the views of the Ex- 
ecutive; " that it was "in aid of an important object;" and that 
" some portions of it might have been most usefully applied during 
the past season." 

And now, sir, I ask, if this be so, why was not this appropriation 
recommended to Congress by the President ? I ask this question 
in the name of the Constitution of tlie United States ; I stand on 
its own clear authority in asking it ; and I invite all those who re- 
member its injunctions, and who mean to respect them, to consider 
well how the question is to be answered. 

Sir, the Constitution is not yet an entire dead letter. There is 
yet some form of observance to its requirements ; and even while 
any degree of formal respect is paid to it, 1 must be permitted to 
continue the question, why was not this appropriation recom- 
mended ? It was in accordance with the President's views ; it 
was for an important object ; it might have been usefully expended. 
The President being of opinion, therefore, that the appropriation 
was necessary and proper, how is it that it was not recommendd 
to Congress ? For, sir, we all know the plain and direct words h* 



52 

which the very first duty of the President is imposed hy tlie Con- 
stitution. Here they are : — 

" He shall, from time to time, give to the Congress information 
of the state of the Union, and recommend to their consideration 
such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient." 

After enumerating tlie poivers of the President, this is the first, 
the very first duty which the Constitution gravely enjoins upon 
him. And now, sir, in no language of taunt or reproach, in no 
anguage of party attack, in terms of no asperity or exaggeration, 
but called upon by the necessity of defending my own vote upon 
the subject, J now, as a public man, as a member of Congress here 
in my place, and as a citizen who feels as warm an attachment to 
the Constitution of the country, as any other can, demand of any 
who may choose to give it, an answer to this question : " Why was 

NOT THIS MEASURE, WHICH THE PRESIDENT DECLARES THAT HE 
THOUGHT NECESSARY AND EXPEDIENT, RECOMMENDED TO CON- 
GRESS ? " And why am I, and why are other members of Con- 
gress, whose path of duty the Constitution says shall be enlightened 
by the President's opinions and communications, to be charged 
with want of patriotism and want of fidelity to the country, because 
we refused an appropriation which the President, though it was in 
accordance with his views, and though he believed it important, 
would not, and did not, recommend to us ? When these questions 
are answered, sir, to the satisfaction of intelligent and impartial 
men, then, and not till then, let reproach, let censure, let suspicion 
of any kind rest on the twenty-nine names which stand opposed to 
this appropriation. 

How, sir, were we to know that this appropriation " was in ac- 
cordance with the views of the Executive " ? He had not so told 
us, formally or infomially. He had not only not recommended it 
to Congress, or either House of Congress, but nobody on this floor 
had undertaken to speak in his behalf. No man got up to say, 
" The President's desire is, he- thinks it necessaiy, expedient, and 
proper." But, sir, if any gentleman had risen to say this, it would 
not have answered the requisition of the Constitution. Not at all. 
It is not a hint, an intimation, the suggestion of a friend, by which 
the Executive duty in this respect is to be fulfilled. By no means. 
The President is to make a recommendation ; a public recom- 
mendation, an ofhcial recommendation, a responsible recommenda- 
tion, not to one House, but to both Houses ; it is to be a recom- 
mendation to Contrress. If, on receivinfr such recommendation, 
Congress fail to pay it proper respect, the fault is theirs. If, 
deeming the measure necessary and expedient, the President fail 
to recommend it, the fault is his, clearly, distinctly, and exclusively 
his. Tliis, sir, is the Constitution of the United States, or else 
I do not undei-stand the Constitution of the United States. Does 



53 

not every man see how perfectly unconstitutional it is that the 
President should communicate his opinions or wishes to Cono-ress 
on such grave and important subjects, otherwise than by a dtrect 
and responsible recommendation — a public and open recommenda- 
tion, equally addressed and equally known to all whose duty calls 
upon them to act on the subject ? What would be the state of 
things, if he might communicate his wishes or opinions privately to 
members of one House, and make no such communication to the 
. other ? Would not the two Houses be necessarily put in imme- 
diate collision ? Would they stand on equal footing ? Would they 
have equal information? Wliat could ensue from such a manner 
of conducting the public business, but quaiTel, confusion, and con- 
flict ? A member rises in the House of Representatives, and 
moves a very large appropriation of money for military purposes. 
If he says he does it upon Executive recommendation, where is his 
voucher ? The President is not like the British King, whose min- 
isters and secretaries are in the House of Commons, and who are 
authorized, in certain cases, to express the opinions and wishes of 
their sovereign. We have no king's servants ; at least we have 
none known to the Constitution. Congress can know the opinions 
of the President only as he officially communicates them. It 
would be a curious inquiry in either House, when a large appro- 
priation is moved, if it were necessary to ask whether the mover 
represented the President, spoke his sentiments, or, in other words, 
whether what he proposed were " in accordance with the views of 
the Executive." How could that be judged of? By the party 
he belongs to ? Party is not quite unique enough for that. By 
the airs he gives himself? Many might assume airs, if thereby 
they could give themselves such importance as to be esteemed au- 
thentic expositors of the Executive will. Or is this will to be cir- 
culated in whispers ? made known to the meetings of party men ? 
intimated through the press ? or communicated in any other form, 
which still leaves the Executive completely irresponsible? So' 
that while Executive purposes or wishes pervade the ranks of party 
fnends, influence their conduct, and unite their efforts, the open, 
direct, and constitutional responsibility is wholly avoided. Sir, this 
!s not the Constitution of the United States, nor can it be consistent 
with any constitution which professes to maintain separate depart- 
ments in the Government. 

Here, then, sir, is abundant ground, in my judgment, for the 
vote of the Senate, and here I might rest it. But there is also 
another ground. The Constitution declares that no money shall 
be drawn from the Treasury but in consequence of appropriations 
made by law. What is meant by " appropriations " ? Does this 
language not mean that particular suras shall be assigned, by law, 
to particular objects ? How far tliis pointing out and fixing the 

E * 



64 

particular objects shall be carried, is a question that cannot be set- 
tled by any precise rule. But " specific appropriations," that is to 
say, the designation of every object for which money is voted, as 
far as such designation is practicable, has been thought to be a most 
important republican principle. In times past, popular parties have 
claimed great merit from professing to carry this doctnne much 
fardier, and to adhere to it much more strictly than their adversa- 
ries. Mr. Jcfffrson, especially, was a great advocate for it, and 
held it to be indispensable to a safe and economical administration 
and disbursement of the public revenues. 

But what have the friends and admirers of Mr. Jefferson to say 
to this apjrropriationl Where do they find, in this proposed grant 
of three millions, designation of object, and particular and specific 
application of money ? Have they forgotten, all forgotten, and 
wholly abandoned, even all pretence for specific appropriation ? If 
not, how could they sanction such a vote as this? Let me recall its 
terms. They are, that " llie sum of three millions of dollars be, and 
the same hereby is appropriated, out of any money in the Treasu- 
ry not otherwise appropriated, to be expended, in whole or in part, 
under the direction of the President of the United States, for the 
military and naval service, including fortifications and ordnance, 
and to increase the navy ; provided such expenditures shall be 
rendered necessary for the defence of the country, prior to the next 
meeting of Congress." 

In the first place, it is to be observed, that whether the money 
shall be used at all or not, is made to depend on the discretion of 
the President. This is sufficiently liberal. It carries confidence 
far enough. But, if there had been no other objections, if the 
objects of the appropriation had been sufficiently described, so that 
the President, if he expended the money at all, must have ex- 
pended it for purposes authorized by the Legislature, and nothing 
had been left to his discretion but the question, whether an emer- 
gency had arisen, in which the authority ought to be exercised, I 
might not have felt bound to reject the vote. There are some i)re- 
cedents which might favor such a contingent provision, though the 
practice is dangerous, and ought not to be followed except in cases 
of clear necessity. 

But the insurmountable objection to the proposed grant was, that 
it specified no objects. It was as general as language could make 
it. It embraced every expenditure that could be called either 
military or naval. It was to include " fortifications, ordnance, and 
increase of the navy," but it was not confined to these. It em- 
braced the whole general subject of military service. Under the 
authority of such a law, the President might repair ships, build 
ships, buy ships, enlist seamen, and do any thing and every thing 
else touching the naval service, without restraint or control. 



55 

He might repair such fortifications as he saw fit, and neglect the 
rest ; arm such as he saw fit, and neglect the arming of others ; or 
build new fortifications whenever he chose. But these unlim'ited 
powers over the fortifications and the navy constitute, by no means 
the most dangerous part of the proposed authority ; because, under 
that authority, his power to raise and employ land forces was equal- 
ly absolute and uncontrolled. He might levy troops, imbody a 
new army, call out the militia in numbers to suit his own discretion", 
and employ them as he saw fit. 

Now, sir, does our legislation, under our Constitution, furnish 
any precedent for all this ? 

We make appropriation for the army, and we understand what 
we are doing, because it is " the army," that is to say, the army 
established by law. We make appropriations for the navy ; they, 
too, are for " the navy," as provided for and established by law! 
We make appropriations for fortifications, but we say what fortifica- 
tions, and we assign to each its intended amount of the whole sum. 
This is the usual course of Congress on such subjects; and why 
should it be departed fiom ? Are we ready to say that the power 
of fixing the places for new fortifications, and the sum allotted to 
each ; the power of ordering new ships to be built, and fixing the 
number of such new ships ; the power of laying out money to 
raise men for the army ; in short, every power, great and small, 
respecting the military and naval service, shall be vested in the 
President, without specification of object or purpose, or the entire 
exclusion of the exercise of all judi,ment on the part of Congress ? 
For one, I am not prepared. The honorable member froml3hio, 
near me, has said, that if the enemy had been on our shores he 
would not have agreed to this vote. And I say, if the proposition 
were now before us, and the guns of the enemy were batterino- 
against the walls of the Capitol, I would not agree to it. ^ 

The people of this countiy have an interest, a property, an in- 
heritance in this Instrument, against the value of which forty 
Capitols do not weigh the twentieth part of one poor scruple. 
There can never be any necessity for such proceedings but a feigned 
and false necessity ; a mere idle and hollow pretence of necessity ; 
least of all, can it be said that any such necessity actually existed 
on the 3d of March. There was no enemy on our shores ; there 
were no guns pointed against the Capitol ; we were in no war, nor 
was there a reasonable probability that we should have war, unless 
we made it ourselves. 

But whatever was the state of our foreign relations, is it not pre- 
posterous to say, that it was necessary for Congress to adopt this 
measure, and yet not necessary for the President to recommend it ? 
Why should \ye thus run in advance of all our own duties, and 
leave the President completely shielded from his just responsibility ? 



66 

Why should there be nothins; but grant, and trust, and confidence, 
on our side, and nothing but discretion and power on his? 

Sir, if there be any philosophy in history ; if human blood still 
runs in human veins ; if man still conforms to the identity of his 
nature, the institutions which secure constitutional liberty can never 
stand long against this excessive personal confidence, against this 
devotion to men — in utter disregard both of principle and experi- 
ence, which seems to me to be strongly characteristic of our times. 
This vote came to us, sir, from the popular branch of the Legisla- 
ture ; and that such a vote should come from such a branch of the 
Lei^islature, was amongst the circumstances which excited in me 
the°greatest surprise and the deepest concern. Certainly, sir, cer- 
tainly I was not, on that account, the more inclined to concur. It 
was no argument with me that others seemed to be rushing, with 
such heedless, headlong trust, such impetuosity of confidence, into 
the arms of Executive power. I held back the stronger, and would 
hold back the longer. I see, or I think I see, it is either a true 
vision of the future, revealed by the history of the past, or, if it be 
an illusion, it is an illusion which appears to me in all the bright- 
ness and sunlight of broad noon, that it is in this career of personal 
confidence, along this beaten track of man-ivorship , marked, every 
furlong, by the fragments of other free Governments, that our ow n 
system is making progress to its close. A personal popularity, 
honorably earned, at first by military achievements, and sustained 
now by party, by patronage, and by enthusiasm which looks for no 
ill, because it means no ill itself, seems to render men willing to 
gratify power, even before its demands are made, and to surfeit 
Executive discretion, even in anticipation of its own appetite. 
Sir, if, on the 3d of March last, it had been the purpose of both 
Houses of Congress to create a military dictator, what formula had 
been better suited to their purpose than this vote of the House ? It 
is true, we might have given more money, if we had had it to give. 
We might have emptied the Treasury ;' but as to the form of the 
gift, we could not have bettered it. Rome had no better models. 
When we give our money for any military purpose ivhatever, what 
remains to be done ? If we leave it with one man to decide, not 
only whedier the military means of the country shall be used at all, 
but how they shall be used, and to what extent they shall be em- 
ployed, what remains either for Congress or the People but to sit 
still, and see how this dictatorial power will be exercised ? On the 
3d of March, sir, I had not forgotten — it was impossible that I 
should have forgotten — the recommendation in the message, at the 
opening of that session, that power should be vested in the Presi- 
dent to issue letters of marque and reprisal against France, at 
his discretion, in the recess of Congress. Happily this power was 
not granted ; but suppose it had been, what would then have been 



57 

the true condition of this Govemment ? Why, sir, this condition 
is very shortly described. Tiie whole war power would have been 
in the hands of the President : for no man can doubt a moment that 
reprisals would bring on immediate war ; and the Treasury, to the 
amount of this vote, in addition to all ordinary appropriations, would 
have been at his absolute disposal also. And all this in a time of 
peace. I beseech all true lovers of constitutional liberty, to con- 
template this state of things, and tell me whether such be a true 
republican administration of this Government. Whether particular 
consequences had ensued or not, is such an accumulation of power 
in the hands of the Executive according to the spirit of our sys- 
tem ? Is it either wise or safe ? Has it any warrant in the prac- 
tice of former times ? Or are gentlemen ready to establish the 
practice, as an example for the benefit of those who are to come 
after us ? 

But, sir, if the power to make reprisals, and this money from 
the Treasury, had both been granted, is there not great reason to 
believe that we should have been now up, to our ears in a hot war? 
I think there is great reason to believe this. Jt will be said, I know, 
that if we had amied the President with this power of war, and 
supplied him with this gi-ant of money, France would have taken 
this for such a proof of spirit on our part, that she would have 
paid tlie indemnity without further delay. This is the old story, 
and the old plea. Every one who desires more power than the 
Constitution or the Laws give him, always says, that if he had 
more power, he could do more good. Power is always claimed 
for the good of the People ; and dictators are always made, when 
made at all, for tlie good of the People. For my part, sir, I was 
content, and am content, to show France that we are prepared to 
maintain our just rights, against her, by the exertion of our power, 
when need be, according to the forms of our own Constitution; 
that, if we make war, we will make it constitutionally ; and that 
we will trust all our interests, both in peace and war, to what the 
intelligence and the strength of the country may do for them, with- 
out breaking down or endangering the fabric of the free institutions. 
_Mr. President, it is the misfortune of the Senate to have differed 
with the President on many great questions during the last four or 
five years. I have regretted this state of things deeply, both on 
personal and on public account ; but it has been unavoidable. It 
is no pleasant employment, it is no holiday business, to maintain 
opposition against power and against majorities, and to contend for 
stern and sturdy principle, against personal popularity, against a 
rushing and overwhelming confidence, that, by wave upon wave, 
and cataract after cataract, seems to be bearing away and destroy- 
ing whatsoever would withstand it. How much longer we may be 
able to support this opposition in any degree, or whether we can 

VOL, III. 8 



58 

possibly hold out till the public intelligence and the public patriot- 
ism shall be awakened to a due sense of the public danger, it is 
not for me to foretell. I shall not despair to the last, if, in the 
mean time, we be true to our own principles. If there be a stead- 
fast adherence to these principles, both here and elsewhere, if, one 
and all, they continue the rule of our conduct in the Senate, and 
the rallying point of those who think with us and support us out 
of the Senate, I am content to hope on, and to struggle on. While 
it remains a contest for the preservation of the Constitution, for the 
security of public liberty, for the ascendency of principles over 
men, I am willing to bear my part of it. If we can maintain the 
Constitution, if we can preserve this security for liberty, if we can 
thus give to true principle its just superlonty over party, over per- 
sons, over names, our labors will be richly rewarded. If we fail 
in all this, they are already among the living, who will write the 
history of this Government, from its commencement to its close. 



REMARKS 



IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, MARCH 16, 1836, ON 
PRESENTING SUNDRY ABOLITION PETITIONS. 



Mr. Webster addressed the Senate as follows : — 

Agreeably to notice, I offer sundry petitions on the subject of 
slavery and the slave trade in the District of Columbia. The first 
purports to be signed by two thousand four hundred and twenty- 
five of the female inhabitants of Boston. 

This petition is in the usual printed form. It is respectful to 
Congress, and contains no reproaches on any body. It asks for 
the consideration of Congress, both with respect to the existence 
of slavery in the District, and with respect to the slave trade in the 
District. 

The second is a petition, signed by Joseph Filson, and about a 
hundred others, citizens of Boston, some of whom are known to 
me, and are highly respectable persons. The petition is to the 
same effect, and in the same form. 

The third petition appears to be signed by a large number of 
persons, inhabitants of Wayne county, in Michigan. I am not 
acquainted witii them. It is a printed petition, different in form 
from the preceding, drawn more at length, and going farther into 
the subject. But I perceive nothing in it disrespectful to the 
Senate, or reproachful to others. 

The fourth petition is like the two first, in substance and in form. 
It is signed by four hundred and thirty-three citizens of Boston. 
Among these signors, Sir, I recognize the names of many persons 
well known to me to be gentlemen of great worth and respectabili- 
ty. There are clergymen, lawyers, merchants, literary men, man- 
ufacturers, and indeed persons from all classes of society. 

I ask, Sir, that these petitions may be received, and move that 
they be referred to the Committee for the District of Columbia. 

This motion itself. Sir, sufficiently shows in what manner I think 
this subject ought to be treated in the Senate. 

The petitioners ask Congress to consider the propriety and ex- 
pediency of two things — first, of making provision for the extinction 
of slavery in the District; second, of abolishing or restraining the 
trade in slaves within the District. Similar petitions have already 

59 



60 

been received. Those gentlemen who think Congress have no 
power over any part of the suhject, if they are clear and settled m 
that opinion, were perfectly justifiahle in voting not to receive them. 
Any petition, which, in our opinion, asks us to do that which is 
plainly against the Constitution, we might very justly reject. As, 
if persons should petition us to pass a law abridging the freedom of 
the press, or respecting an establishment of religion, such petition 
would very properly be denied any reception at all. 

In doubtful cases, we should incline to receive and consider ; be- 
cause doubtful cases ought not to be decided without consideration. 

But I cannot regard this case as a- doubtful one. I think the 
constitutional power of Congress over the subject is clear, and, 
therefore, that we were bound to receive the petitions. And a 
large majority of the Senate are also of opinion that the petitions 
ou^ht to be received. 

I have often, Mr. President, expressed the opmion that, over 
slavery, as it exists in tlie States, this Government has no control 
whatever. It is entirely and exclusively a State concern. And 
while it is thus clear that Congress has no direct power over the 
subject, it is our duty to take care that the authority of this Gov- 
ernment is not brought to bear upon it by any indirect interference 
whatever. It must be left to the States, to the course of things, 
and to those causes over which this Government has no control. 
All this, in my opinion, is in the clear line of our duty. 

On the other hand, believing that Congress has constitutional 
power over slavery, and the trade in slaves, within the District, I 
think petitions on those subjects, respectfully presented, ought to 
be respectfully treated, and respectfully considered. The respect- 
ful mode, the proper mode, is the ordinary mode. We have a 
committee on the affairs of the District. For very obvious reasons, 
and without any reference to this question, this committee is ordi- 
narily composed principally of Southern gentlemen. For many 
years a member from Virginia or Maryland has, I believe, been at 
the head of the committee. The committee, therefore, is the ap- 
propriate one, and there can be possibly no objection to it, on 
account of the manner in which it is constituted. 

Now, I believe, Sir, that the unanimous opinion of the North is, 
that Congress has no authority over slavery in the States ; and 
perhaps ccjually unanimously, that over slavery in the' District it 
has such rightful authority. 

Then, Sir, the question is a question of the fitness, propriety, 
justice, and expediency of considering these two subjects, or either 
of them, according to the prayer of these petitions. 

It is well known to us and the country, that Congress has hith- 
erto entertained inquiries on both these points. On the 9th of 
January, 1809, the House of Representatives resolved, by very 



61 

large majorities, " That the Committee for the District of Colum- 
hia he instructed to take into consideration the laws within the 
District in respect to slavery ; that they inquire into the slave trade 
as it exists in, and is carried on through, the District ; and that 
they report to the House such amendments to the existing laws as 
shall seem to them to be just.^' 

And it resolved also, " That the committee he further instructed 
to inquire into the expediency of providing by law for the gradual 
abolition of slavery within the District, in such manner that the 
interest of no individual shall be injured thereby." 

As early as March, 1816, the same House, on the motion of Mr. 
Randolph, of Virginia, resolved, " That a committee be appointed 
to inquire into the existence of an inhuman and illegal traj^c of 
slaves carried on in and through the District of Columbia, and to 
report whether any, and what measures are necessary for putting a 
stop to the same." 

It is known, also, Sir, that the Legislature of Pennsylvania has 
within a very few years urged upon Congress the propriety of 
providing for the abolition of slavery in the District. The House 
of Assembly of New York, about the same time, I think, passed a 
similar vote. After these proceedings, Mr. President, which were 
generally known, I think, the country was not at all prepared to 
find that these petitions would be objected to, on the ground that 
they asked for the exercise of an authority on the part of Con- 
gress, which Congress cannot constitutionally exercise ; or that, 
having been formally received, the prayer of them, in regard to 
both objects, would be immediately rejected, without reference to 
the committee, and without any inquiry. 

Now, Sir, the propriety, justice, and fitness of any interference 
of Congress, for either of the purposes stated in the petitions, are 
the points on which, as it seems to me, it is highly proper for a 
committee to make a report. The well-disposed and patriotic 
among these petitioners are entitled to be respectfully answered; 
and if there be among them others whose motives are less praise- 
worthy, it is not the part of prudence to give them the advantage 
which they would derive from a right of complaint that the Senate 
had acted hastily or summarily on their petitions, without inquiry 
or consideration. 

Let the committee set forth their own views on these points, dis- 
passionately, fully, and candidly. Let the argument be seen and 
heard ; let the People be trusted with it ; and I have no doubt that 
a fair discussion of the subject will produce its proper effect, both 
in and out of the Senate. 

This, Sir, would have been, and is the course of proceeding, 
which appears to me to be prudent and just. The Senate, how- 
ever, having decided otherwise, by a very large majority, I only 

F 



62 

say so much, on the present occasion, as may suffice to make my 
own opinions known. 

In reply to Mr. King, of Alabama, 

Mr. Webster said, that he was not aware of having said any 
thintr which could justify the remarks of the honorable member. 
By what authority does the gentleman say (said iMr. W.) that 1 
have placed myself at the head of these petitioners ? The gentle- 
man cannot be allowed. Sir, to assign to me any place or any 
character, wliich I do not choose to take to myself. 1 have only 
expressed my opinion as to the course which it is prudent and wise 
in us all to adopt, in disposing of these petitions. 

It is true that, while the question on the reception of the petitions 
•was pending, I observed that 1 should hold back these petitions till 
that question was decided. It is decided. The Senate has de- 
cided to receive the petitions; and being received, the manner of 
treating them necessarily arises. The origin of the authority of 
Congress over this District, the views-and objects of the States in 
ceding the territory, the little interest which this Government has 
in the general question of slavery, and the great magnitude which 
individual States have in it, the great danger, to the Government 
itself, of agitating the question here, w^iile things remain in their 
present posture, in the States around us — these. Sir, are considera- 
tions all intimately belonging to the question, as I think, and which 
a competent committee would naturally present to the Senate and 
to the public. 

Mr. President, I feel bound to make one further remark. What- 
ever gentlemen may think of it, I assure them that these petitions, 
at least in many cases, have no factious origin, no political or party 
origin. Such may be the origin of some of them. I am quite sure 
it is not of all. Many of them arise from a sense of religious duty ; 
and that is a fcelinjr which should be reasoned with, but cannot be 
suppressed by a mere summary exercise of authority. 1 wish that 
all reasonable men may be satisfied with our proceedings ; that we 
may so act in regard to the whole matter as shall promote har- 
mony, strengthen the bonds of our Union, and increase the confi- 
dence, both of the North and the South, in this Government. 



REMARKS 



IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, ON THE DEPOSIT 
BANKS. MARCH 17, 183G. 



Mr. Webster rose to move for the printing of 3,000 extra 
copies of the statement of the affairs of the deposit banks, trans- 
mitted by the Secretary of the Treasury. 

In makino; this motion, Mr. Webster called the attention of the 
Senate to the document from the Treasury, showing the state of 
the deposit banks at the latest dates. He quoted from the tabu- 
lar statement some of the leading facts. The immediate liabilities 
of the banks amounted, it appeared, to nearly seventy-two millions 
of dollars, viz. the public deposits, $30,678,879 91 ; the private 
deposits, $ 15,043,033 64 ; the bills in circulation, $26,243,688 36. 

The amount of specie held by these banks, it further appeared, 
was $10,198,659 24; that is to say, there is less than one dollar 
specie for six dollars debt ; and there is due to the Government by 
those banks more than three times tho amount of all the specie. 

There are other items which swell the amounts on each side, 
such as debts due to banks, and debts due from banks. But these 
are only equalling quantities, and of no moment in the view I am 
taking of the question. 

Among the means of these deposit banks I see an item of 
"other investments," of no less amount than $8,777,228 79. 
What is meant by these " other investments," I am not informed. 
I wish for light. I have my suspicions, but I have no proofs. 
Sir, look at the reported state of the Farmers' and Mechanics' Bank 
of Michigan, the last in the list. The capital of that bank is only 
$ 150,000. Its portion of the public deposits is no less a sum 
than $784,764 75. Now, Sir, where is this money? It is not in 
specie in the bank itself. All its specie is only $51,01195; all 
its discounts, loans, he, are only $500,000, or thereabouts; 
where is the residue ? Why, we see where it is ; it is included in 
the item '' due from haiiks, $678,766 37." What banks have got 
this ? On what terms do they take it ? Do they give interest for 
it? Is it in the deposit banks in the great cities? and does this 
make a part of the other liabilities of these deposit banks in the 
cities ? Now, this is one question : what are these other liabilities ? 
But, as to these " other investments," I say again, I wish to know 

63 



64 

what they are. Besides real estate, loans, discount, and exchange, 
I beg to know what other investments banks usually make. 

In my opinion, Sir, the present system now begins to develop 
itself. We see what a complication of private and pecuniary in- 
terests have thus wound themselves around our finances. While 
the present state of things continues, or as it goes on, there will be 
no lack of ardor in opposing the Land bill, or any other proposi- 
tion for distributing or effectually using the public money. 

We have certainly arrived at a very extraordinary crisis ; a crisis 
which we must not trifle with. The accumulation of revenue must 
be prevented. Every wise politician will set that down as a car- 
dinal maxim. How can it be prevented ? Fortifications will not 
do it. This I am perfectly persuaded of. I shall vote for every 
part and parcel of the Fortification bill, reported by the Military 
Committee. And yet I am sure that, if that bill should pass into 
a law, it will not absorb the revenue, or sufficiently diminish its 
amount. Internal improvements cannot absorb it : these useful 
channels are blocked up by vetoes. 

How, then, is this revenue to be disposed of? I put this ques- 
tion seriously to all those who are inclined to oppose the Land bill 
now before the Senate. 

Sir, look to the future, and see what will be the state of things 
next autumn. The accumulation of revenue may then probably 
be near fifty millions ; an amount equal, perhaps, to the lohole amount 
of specie in the country. What a state of things is that! Every 
dollar in the country the property of Government ! 

Again, Sir, are gentlemen satisfied with the present condition of 
the public money in regard to its safety ? Is that condition safe, 
commendable, and proper? The member from South Carolina 
has brought in a bill to regulate these deposit banks. I hope he 
will call it up, that we may at least have an opportunity of showing, 
for ourselves, what we think the exigency requires. 



REMARKS 



IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, APRIL 23, 1836, ON THE 
FOLLOWING RESOLUTION, SUBMITTED BY MR. BENTON: — 



*^ Resolved, That, from and after the day of , in the year 1836, 

nothing but gold and silver ought to be received in payment for the public 
lands; and that the Committee on Public Lands be instructed to report a bill 
accordingly." 

Mr. Webster said that he and those who acted with him would 
be justified in taking no active course in regard to this resolution, in 
sitting still, suppressing their surprise and astonishment if they could, 
and letting these schemes and projects take the form of such laws 
as their projectors might propose. 

We are powerless now, and can do nothing. All these measures 
affecting the currency of the country and the security of the public 
treasure we have resisted since 183-2. We have done so unsuc- 
cessfully. We struggled for the re-charter of the Bank of the 
United States in 1832. The utility of such an institution had been 
proved by forty years' experience. We struggled against the 
removal of the deposits. That act, as we thought, was a direct 
usurpation of power. We strove against the experiment, and all 
in vain. Our opinions were disregarded, our warnings neglected, 
and we are now in no degree responsible for the mischiefs which 
are but too likely to ensue. 

Who will look with the perception of an intelligent, and the can- 
dor of an honest man, upon the present condition of our finances 
and currency, and say that this want of credit and confidence which 
is so general, and which, it is possible, may, ere long, overspread 
the land with bankruptcies and distress, has not flowed directly from 
those measures, the adoption of which we so strenuously resisted, 
and the folly of which men of all parties, however reluctantly, w'll 
soon be brought to acknowledge ? The truth of this assertion was 
palpable and resistless. 

What, Sir, are the precise evils under which the finances of the 

Government, and, he believed, of the country now suffer ? They 

are obviously two — the superabundance of the Treasury, and its 

insecurity. We have more money than we need, and that money, 

VOL. III. 9 ^^ F* 



66 

not being in custody under any law, and being in hands over which 
we have no control, is threatened with danger. Now, Sir, is it not 
manifest that these evils flow directly from measures of Government 
which some of us have zealously resisted ? May not each be traced 
to its distinct source? There would have been no surplus in the 
Treasury, but for the veto of the land bill, so called, of 1833. 
This is certain. And as to the security of the public money, it 
would have been, at this moment, entirely safe, but for the veto 
of the act continuing the Bank charter. Both these measures had 
received the sanction of Congress, by clear and large majorities. 
They were both negatived : the reign of experiments, schemes, and 
projects commenced, and here we are. Every thing that is now 
amiss in our financial concerns is the direct consequence of extra- 
ordinary exertions of Executive authority. This assertion does not 
rest on general reasoning. Facts prove it. One veto has deprived 
the Government of a safe custody for the public moneys, and 
another veto has caused their present augmentation. 

What, Sir, are the evils which are distracting our financial opera- 
lions ? They are obviously two. The public money was not safe ; 
it was protected by no law. The treasury was overflowing. There 
was more money than we needed. The currency was unsound. 
Credit had been diminished, and confidence destroyed. And what 
did these two evils, the insecurity of the public money and its abun- 
dance, result from? They referred directly back to the two cele- 
brated experiments ; the veto of the bank bill, followed by the 
removal of the deposits, and the rejection of the land bill. No 
man doubted that the public money would have remained safe in 
the Bank of the United States, if the Executive veto of 1832 had 
not disturbed it. 

It was that veto, also, which, by discontinuing the National Bank, 
removed the great and salutary check to the immoderate issue of 
paper money, and encouraged the creation of so many State banks. 
This was another of the products of that veto. This is as plain as 
that. The rejection of the land bill of 1833, by depriving the coun- 
try of a proper, necessary, and equal distribution of the surplus 
fund, had produced this redundancy in the Treasury. If the wis- 
dom of Congress had been trusted, the country would not have 
been plunged into its present difficulties. They devised the only 
means by which the peace and prosperity of the People could have 
been secured. They passed the bank charter : it was negatived. 
They passed the land bill, and it met the same fate. This extraor- 
dinary exercise of power, in these two instances, has produced an 
exactly corresponding mischief in each case, upon the subjects to 
which it was applied. Its application to the bill providing for the 
re-charter of the Bank of the United States has been followed by 
the present insecurity of the public treasure, and a superabundance 



67 

of money not wanted has been the consequence of its application to 
the land bill. 

The country is the victim of schemes, projects, and reckless ex- 
periments. We are wiser, or we think ourselves so, than those who 
have gone before us. Experience cannot teach us. We cannot 
let well enough alone. The experience of forty years was insuffi- 
cient to settle the question whether a national bank was useful or 
not ; and forty years' practice of the Government could not decide 
whether it was constitutional or not. And it is worthy of all con- 
sideration, that undue power has been claimed by the Executive. 
One thing is certain, and that is, there has been a constant and cor- 
responding endeavor to diminish the constitutional power of Con- 
gress. The bank charter was negatived, because Congress had no 
power under the Constitution to grant it ; and yet, though Congress 
had no authority to create a national bank, the Executive at once 
exercised the power to select and appoint as many banks as he 
pleased, and to place the public moneys in their hands on just such 
terms and conditions as he pleased. 

There is not a more palpable evidence of the constant bias of 
this Government to a wrong tendency, than this continued attempt 
to make legislative power yield to that of the Executive. The 
restriction of the just authority of Congress is followed in every case 
by the increase of the power of the Executive. What was it that 
caused the destruction of the United States Bank, and put the 
whole moneyed power of the country into the hands of one man ? 
Constitutional doubts of the power of Congress ! What has pro- 
duced this superabundance of money in the treasury? Constitu- 
tional doubts of the power of Congress! In the whole history of 
this Administration, doctrines had obtained, whose direct tendency 
was to detract from the settled and long-practised power of Con- 
gress, and to give, in full measure, hand over hand, every thing into 
the control of the Executive. Did gentlemen wish him to exem- 
plify the truth of this ? Let them look at the bank bill, the land 
bill, and the various bills which have been negatived respecting 
internal improvements. 

Gentlemen now speak of returning to a specie basis. Did any 
man suppose it practicable? The resolution, now under considera- 
tion, contemplated that, after the current year, all payments for the 
public lands were to be made in specie. Now, if he (Mr. W.) had 
brought forward a proposition like this, he would at once have been 
accused of being opposed to the settlement of the new States. It 
would have been urged diat speculators and capitalists could easily 
carry gold and silver to the West, by sea or land, while the cultiva- 
tor, who wished to purchase a small farm, would be compelled to 
give the former his own price for the land, because he could visit 
large cities, or other places where it was to be found, and procure 



68 

the specie. These arguments would have met him, he was sure, 
had lie introduced a measure like this. If specie payments were to 
be made for public dues, he should suppose it best to begin with 
the customs, which were payable in large cities, where gold and sil- 
ver could be more easily procured than on the frontiers. But 
whether from speculators, or settlei-s, what was the use of these 
specie payments ? The money was dragged over the mountains to 
be dragged back again : that was all. The purchaser of public 
lands \vould buy gold by bills on the Eastern cities: it would go 
across the country in panniers or wa^^ons: the Land Office would 
send it back again by the return carriage, and thus create the use- 
less expense of transportation. 

He had from the very first looked upon all these schernes as 
totally idle and illusory ; not in accordance with' the practice of 
other nations, or suited to our own policy, or our own active condi- 
tion. But the effect of this resolution — what would it be? Let 
them try It. Let them go on. Let them add to the catalogue of 
projects. Let them cause every man in the West, who has a five 
dollar bank note in his pocket, to set off, post haste, to the bank, 
lest somebody else should get there before, and get out all the 
money, and then buy land. How long would the Western banks 
stand this ? Yet, if gentlemen please, let them go on. 1 shall dis- 
sent ; I shall protest ; I shall speak my opinions ; but I shall still 
say. Go on, gentlemen, and let us see the upshot of your experi- 
mental policy. 

The currency of the country was, to a great degree, in the power 
of all the banking companies in the great cities. He was as much 
opposed to the increase of these insthutions ; but the evil had begun, 
and could not be resisted. What one State does, another will do 
also. Danger and misfortunes appear to be threatening the curren- 
cy of the country ; and although the Constitution gives the control 
over it to Congress, yet Congress is allowed to do nothing. Con- 
gress, and not the States, had the coining power ; yet the States 
issue paper as a substitute for coin, and Congress is not supposed to 
be able to regulate, control, or redeem it. We have the sole power 
over the currency ; but we possess no means of exercising that 
power. Congress can create no bank, regulated by law, but the 
Executive can appoint twenty or fifty banks, without any law what- 
ever. A very peculiar state of things exists in this country at this 
moment — a country in the highest state of prosperity ; more boun- 
tifully blest by Providence in all things than any other nation on 
earth, and yet in the midst of great pecuniary distress, its finances 
deranged, and an increasing want of confidence felt in its circulation. 
But the experiment was to cure all this. A few select and favor- 
ite banks were to give us a secure currency, one better and more 
practically beneficial than that of the United States Bank. And 



69 

here is the result, or, rather, to use the expression of Monsieur Tal- 
leyrand, here is "the beginning of the end." 

We were told that these banks would do as well, if not a great 
deal better, for all the purposes of exchange, than the United States 
Bank ; that they could negotiate as cheaply and with as much safe- 
ty ; and yet the rate is now one and a half, if not two per cent, 
between Cincinnati and New York. Indeed, exchanges are all 
deranged, and in confusion. Sometimes they are at high rates, 
both ways, between two points. Looking, then, to the state of the 
currency, the insecurity of the public money, and the rates of ex- 
change, let me ask any honest and intelligent man, of whatever 
party, what has been the result of these experiments? Does any 
gentleman still doubt? Let him look to the disclosures made by 
the circular of one of the deposit banks of Ohio, which was read 
by an honorable Senator here a day or two since. That bank 
would not receive the notes of the specie-paying banks of that State 
from the Land Office, as I understand the circular, or, at any rate, 
it tells the Land Office that it will not. Here are thirty or forty 
specie-paying banks in Ohio, all of good credit, and out of the whole 
number three were to be selected, entitled to no more confidence 
than the others, whose notes were to be taken for public lands. 
If gentlemen from the West and South-west are satisfied with this 
arrangement, I certainly commend greatly their quiescent tempera- 
ment. 

As he said in the commencement of his remarks, he knew of 
nothing he could do in regard to the resolution, except to sit still 
and see how far gentlemen would go, and what this state of things 
would end in. Here was this vast surplus revenue under no control 
whatever, and, from appearances, though the session was nearly 
over, likely to remain so. Two measures of the highest importance 
had been proposed — one to diminish this fund; another to secure 
its safety. He wished to understand, and the country to know, 
whether any thing was to be done with either of these propositions. 
For his own part, he believed that a national bank was the only 
security for the national treasure ; but, as there was no such institu- 
tion, a more extended use should be made of this treasure, and in 
its distribution no preference should be given, as was the fact in the 
instance of the banks of Ohio, to which he had just alluded. In 
some way or other this fund must be distributed. It is absolutely 
necessary. The provisions of the land bill seemed to him emi- 
nently calculated to effect this object ; but if that measure should 
not be adopted, he would give his vote to any proper and equitable 
measure which might be brought forward, let it come from what 
quarter it might. In all probability, there would be a diminution 
in the amount of land sales for some time to come. The purchases 
of the last year, he supposed, had exceeded the demands of emigra- 



70 

tion. They were made by speculators for the purpose of holding 
up lands for increased prices. The spirit of speculation, indeed, 
seemed to be very much directed to the acquisition of the public 
lands. He could not say what would be the further progress, or 
where the end, of these things; but he thought one thing quite clear, 
and that was, that the existing surplus ought to be distributed. 

He repeated, that he intended no detailed opposition to the meas- 
ure now before the Senate ; and had he been in his seat, he should 
not have opposed the amendment to the pension bill. Let the ex- 
periments, one and all, have their course. He should do nothing 
except to vote against all these visionary projects, until the country 
should become convinced that a sound currency, and with it a gen- 
eral security for property, and the earnings of honest labor, were 
things of too much importance to be sacrificed to mere projects, 
whether political or financial. 

After remarks by Mr. Niles of Connecticut, and Mr. Be.nto:* of Missouri, 

Mr. Webstkr said the gentleman from Missouri had referred to 
the resolution of 1816; and he would beg leave to make a brief 
explanation in reference to the part he bore in it. The events of 
the war had greatly deranged the currency of the country, and a 
great pecuniary pressure was felt from one end of the continent to 
the other. The war took place in 1812, and not two months of it 
had passed before there was a cessation of specie payments by at 
least two thirds of all the banks of the country. So strong was the 
pressure, that although the enemy blockaded the Chesapeake, so 
that not a barrel of pork or flour could be sent to market, yet the 
prices of these articles rose fifty per cent. This state of things con- 
tinued ; the collectors of the customs every where received the 
notes of their own local banks for duties payable at their own places, 
but would not receive the bills of the banks of the other cities. 
And what was the consequence ? Why, at the close of the session 
of Congress, a member, if he had been fortunate enough to preserve 
any of his pay, had to give twenty-five per cent, to get the money 
received here exchanged for money that be could carry home. 
Another effect of this state of the currency was this — the Consti- 
tution provided that, in the regulation of commerce or revenue, no 
preference should be given to the ports of one State over those of 
anotlicr. Yet Baltimore, for instance, which had the exchange 
against her, had an advantage, by the payment of her duties in the 
bills of her banks, and had the advantage of at least twenty-five per 
cent, over some Northern cities. The resolution then introduced 
by him was to provide that the revenue should be equally paid in 
all parts of the United States; and what was the effect of it? The 
bank bill hud just passed, and the resolution was, that all debts due 



71 

the Government should be paid in the legal coin, in notes of the 
Bank of the United States, or in notes of banks that paid coin on 
demand. That was the operation of the law of 1816, rendered ab- 
sokitely necessary by the existing state of things. 

The gentleman from Connecticut inquired whether the omission 
to use the powers of Congress necessarily increased that of the Ex- 
ecutive. He would put a })oser to the gentleman. The President 
himself admitted that it was the appropriate duty of Congress to 
take the public treasure into its hands, and appoint agents to take 
care of it. The gentleman himself must admit this, for he supposed 
that he did not go the lengths of the Senator from Tennessee in being 
willing that things should remain as they were. Then, if it was 
their duty to take care of the national treasure, and they did not do 
it, it would go into the hands of the Executive. Was not the cus- 
tody of the national treasure power? and if they neglected to use 
this power, did they not augment the power of the Executive? 

Nothing could be more appropriate for a historian, than to review 
the doctrines which had been advanced with regard to Executive 
power, and the means by which it was sought to increase it. The 
President himself first advanced the doctrine, and it had been repeat- 
ed there, that the President of the United States was the sole rep- 
resentative of the People of the United States. Did the Constitu- 
tion make him so ? Did the Constitution acknowledge any other 
representative of the People than the members of the other House ? 
But it had been found extremely convenient to those who wished 
to increase the President's power to give him this title. This claim 
of the President reminded him of a remark he heard made many 
years ago by a member of the House of Representatives. That 
gentleman had voted against the first Bank of the United States, 
and had changed his mind, and was about to vote for the second. 
If, said the gentleman, the People have given us the power to make 
a bank, we can do it ; and if they have not, we are the representa- 
tives of the People, and can take the power. And this was the 
doctrine applied to the President as the peculiar representative of 
the People. The Constitution gave him a modicum of power, and 
he, claiming the lion's part, took all the rest. This was the result 
of that overwhelming personal popularity which led men to disre- 
gard all the ancient maxims of the founders of this Government, and 
to yield up all power into the hands of one man. They could not 
DOW even quote the doctrines of Mr. Jefferson without being scout- 
ed, and they could not resist any power claimed by the Executive, 
however arbitrary, but must yield up every thing to him by one 
universal confidence, because he was the representative of the 
People. 



72 



After further remarks bj Mr. Niles, 

Mr. Webster observed that it was the best course, when a gen- 
tleman replied to another, to use his very words 36 far as his recol- 
lection permitted him. He had noticed, on other occasions, that 
the Senator from Connecticut gave his own language as that of the 
gentleman he was replying to, put his own construction upon it, 
and then replied to this man of straw. He hoped that the gentle- 
man would, when he quoted him in future, use his exact language, 
and not put into his mouth words that he did not use. The gen- 
tleman, in speaking of the President, used the term representative 
of the People, precisely in the meaning of the term as applied to a 
member of the House of Representatives. Now, it was impossible 
to believe in any idea of power pertaining to the President in this 
character. But he would remind the Senator that the President 
himself in more than one communication had claimed this character 
and power. It would be found in the protest that he is the only 
single representative of the People. Sir, this is the very essence of 
consolidation, and in the worst of hands. Do we not all know that 
the People have not one representative? Do we not know that 
the States are divided into congressional districts, each of which 
elects a representative, and that the States themselves are repre- 
sented by two members on that floor ? Do we not all know that it 
was carefully avoided by the framers of the Constitution to give him 
any such power at all? He admitted that the President, in refer- 
ence to his popularity merely, was called, with great propriety, the 
representative of the People ; but in other respects, he was no more 
so than was the President of the old Congress. There was another 
false doctrine that was worth noticing, and that was, that every 
thing that had been done by the President had been approved of 
by the People, because they reelected him. 



REMARKS 



IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, ON THE BILL TO AU- 
THORIZE THE PURCHASE, ON THE PART OF THE UNITED 
STATES, OF THE PRIVATE STOCK IN THE LOUISVILLE AND 
PORTLAND CANAL. MAY 25, 1836. 

Mr. Webster addressed the Senate as follows : — 

Mr. President : I regret the warmth with which my friend 
from Ohio, (Mr. Ewkng,) and my friend from Louisiana, (Mr. 
Porter,) have spoken on this occasion. But while I 'regret it, I 
can hardly say I blame it. They have expressed disappointment, 
and, I think, they may well feel disappointment. I confess, Sir, I 
feel disappointment, also. Looking to the magnitude of this object ; 
looking to its highly interesting character to the West ; looking to 
the great concern which our VVestern friends have manifested for its 
success, I feel, myself, not only disappointment, but, in some degree, 
mortification at the result of the vote which has now been taken. 
That vote, if jt stands, must be decisive of the success of the 
measure. 

No doubt. Sir, it is altogether vain to pass this bill, unless it con- 
tain such provisions as will induce the stockholders in the corpora- 
tion to part with their interests. 

In the first place, Sir, why do we hear so much reproach and 
denunciation against the members of this corporation? Have they 
not hazarded their property in an undertaking of great importance 
and utility to the country ? Has not Congress itself encouraged 
their enterprise, by taking a part of the stock on account of the 
Government? Are we not ourselves shareholders in this company ? 
Their tolls, it is said, are large ; that is true ; but, then, not only did 
they run all the risks usually attending such enterprises, but, even 
with their large tolls, all their receipts, up to this hour, by no means 
give an increase on their capital equal to the ordinary interest of 
money in that part of the country. 

There appears to me very great injustice in speaking of their tolls 
as "fines" and "penalties," and unjust impositions; or of their char- 
ter, as an odious monopoly. Who called it so, or who so thought 
of it, when it was granted to them? Who, but they, were willing 
to undertake the work — to advance the money, and to run the 

VOL. III. 10 '^ G 



74 

risks and chances of failure ? Who then blamed, reproached, or 
denounced the enterprising individuals who hazarded their money 
in a project to make a canal round the falls of the Ohio ? Who 
then spoke of their tolls as impositions, fines, and penalties ? No- 
body, Sir. Then, all was encouragement and cheering onward. 
The cry was then, Go on, run the hazard, try the experiment, let 
our vessels and boats have a passage round this obstruction ; make 
an effort to overcome this great obstacle. If you fail, the loss, 
indeed, will be yours; but if you succeed, all the world will agree 
that you ought to be fairly and fully remunerated for the risk and 
expenditure of capital. 

Sir, we are bound in all justice and fairness to respect the legal 
rights of these corporators. For one, I not only respect their legal 
ri'<hts, but I honor their enterprise, I commend their perseverance, 
and I think they deserve well of the community. 

But, nevertheless, Sir, I am for making this navigation free. If 
there were no canal, I should be for making one, or for other modes 
of removing the obstructions in the river. As there is a canal, now 
the subject of private ownership and private property, I am for 
buying it out, and opening it, toll free, to all who navigate the river. 
In my opinion, this work is of importance enough to demand the 
attention of Government. To be sure it is but a canal, and a canal 
round the Hills of a river ; but that river is the Ohio. It is one of 
those vast streams which form a part of the great water communica- 
tion of the West, It is one of those running seas which bear on 
their bosom the riches of Western commerce. It is a river ; but, 
to the uses of man, to the purposes of trade, to the great objects of 
communication, it is one of those rivers which has the character of 
an ocean. Indeed, when one looks at the map, and glances his 
eye on all these rivers, he sees at once water enough to constitute 
or to fill an ocean, pouring from different, distant, and numerous 
sources, and flowing many thousand miles, in various channels, with 
breadth and depth of water in each, sufiicienl for all the purposes 
of rapid communication and extensive trade. And if, in any por- 
tion of these inland seas, we find obstructions which the hand of 
man can remove, who can say that such removal is not an object 
worthy all the attention of Government? 

Whoever, Mr. President, would do his duty, and his whole duty, 
in the councils of this Government, must look upon the country as 
it is, in its whole length and breadth. He must comprehend it in 
its vast extent, its novel character, its sudden development, its 
amazing progress, confounding all calculation, and almost over- 
whelming the imagination. Our rivers are not the rivers of the 
European world. We have not to deal with the Trent, the Thames, 
and the Severn. With us, at least in this part of our country, 
navigation from the sea does not stop where the tide stops. Our 



75 

ports and harbors are not at the mouths of rivers only, or at the 
head of the tides of the sea. Hundreds of miles, nay, thousands of 
miles, beyond the point where the tides of the ocean are felt, deep 
waters spread out, and capacious harbors open themselves, to the 
reception of a vast and increasing navigation. 

To be sure, Sir, this is a work of internal improvement ; but it is 
not, on that account, either the less constitutional, or the less im- 
portant. Sir, I have taken a part in this great struggle for internal 
improvement from the beginning, and I shall hold out to the end. 
Whoever may follow, or whoever may fly, I shall go straight for- 
ward for all those constitutional powers, and for all that liberal policy, 
which I have heretofore supported. 

I remember. Sir, and, indeed, a very short memory might retain 
the recollection, when the first appropriations for harbors on the 
great lakes were carried through this body, not without the utmost 
difficulty, and against the most determined opposition. I remember 
when Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, and Lake Michigan were likely to 
be condemned to a continuance in the state in which Nature and 
the Indian tribes had left them, with no proof upon their shores of 
the policy of a civilized state, no harbors for the shelter of a hun- 
dred vessels, no light-house even to point out to the inland mariner 
the dangers of his course. I remember even when the harbor of 
Buffalo was looked upon as a thing either unimportant in itself, or, 
if not unimportant, yet shut out from the care and the aid of Congress 
by a constitutional interdiction of works of internal improvement. 
But, Sir, in this case, as in others, the doctrine of internal improve- 
ment has established itself by its own necessity, its own obvious 
and confessed utility, and the benefits which it has already so wide- 
ly conferred. So it will be, I have no doubt, in the case before us. 
We shall wonder hereafter who could doubt the propriety of 
setting free the navigation of the Ohio, and shall wonder that it was 
delayed even so long. 

^Ir. President, on the question of constitutional power, I entertain 
not a particle of doubt. How is it, let me ask, that we appropriate 
money for harbors, piers, and breakwaters on the sea-coast? 
Where do we find power for this ? Certainly no where, where we 
cannot find equal power to pass this bill. The same clause covers 
such appropriations, inland as well as on the sea-coast, or else it 
covers neither. We have foreign commerce, and we have internal 
commerce; and the power, and the duty, also, of regulating, pro- 
tecting, aiding, and fostering both is given in the same words. For 
one, therefore, Sir, I look to the magnitude of the object, and not to 
its locality. I ask not whether it be east or west of the mountains. 
There are no Alleghanies in my politics. 

I care not whether it be an improvement on the shore of the sea, 
or on the shore of one of these mighty rivers, so much like a sea, 



76 

which flow through our vast interior. It is enough for me to know 
that the object is a good one, an important one, within the scope of 
our powers, and called for by the fair claims of our commerce. So 
that it be in the Union, so that it be within the twenty-four States, 
or the twenty-six States, it cannot be too remote for me. This 
feeling, Sir, so natural, as 1 think, to true patriotism, is the dictate 
also of enlightened self-interest. Were I to look only to the bene- 
fits of my own immediate constituents, I should still support this 
measure. Is not our commerce floating on these Western rivers ? 
Are not our manuflictures ascending them all, by day and by night, 
by the power of steam, incessantly impelling a thousand engines, 
and forcing upwards, against their currents, hundreds of thousands of 
tons of freight ? If these cargoes be lost, if they be injured, if their 
progress be delayed, if the expense of their transportation be in- 
creased, who does not see that all interested in them become suffer- 
ers ? Who does not see that every producer, every manuHicturer, 
every trader, every laborer, has an interest in these improvements ? 
Surely, Sir, this is one of the cases in which the interest of the whole 
is the interest of each. Every man has his dividend out of this 
augmented public advantage. But if it were not so, if the effect 
were more local, if the work were useful to the Western States 
alone, or useful mainly to Kentucky and Indiana alone, still I 
should think it a case fairly within our power, and important 
enough to demand our attention. 

But, Mr. President, I felt the more pain at the result of the last 
vote of the Senate on account of those Western gentlemen, who 
are so much interested in this measure, and who have uniformly 
supported appropriations for other parts of the country, which, 
though just and proper, are, as it seems to me, no more just or proper 
than this. 

These friends have stood by us. They have uniformly been 
found at our side, in the contest about internal improvement. They 
have upheld that policy, and have gone with us through good report 
and evil report. And I now tell them that I shall stand by them. 
I shall be found where they look for me. I have asked their votes, 
once and again, for objects important to the Atlantic States. They 
liave liberally given those votes. They have acted like enlightened 
and wise statesmen. I have duly estimated the high justice and 
liberality of their conduct. And having now an object interesting 
to them, and to their constituents, a just object, and a great object, 
they have a right to find me at their side, acting with them, acting 
according to my own principles, and proving my own consistency. 
And so they shall find me ; and so they do find me. On this occa- 
sion I am with them; I am one of them. I am as Western a man, 
on this bill, as he among them who is most Western. This chair 
must change its occupant, another voice will address the Senate 



77 

from this seat, before an object of this nature, so important, so con- 
stitutional, so expedient, so highly desirable to a great portion of 
the country, and so useful to the whole, shall fail for the want, here, 
either of a decisive vote in its support, or an earnest recommenda- 
tion of it to the support of others. 



* 



SPEECH 



liN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, ON INTRODUCING THE 
PROPOSITION FOR THE D1STH1I5UTION OF THE SURPLUS REV- 
ENUE. MAY 31, 183C. 

Mr. President: I have no desire to make myself responsible, 
in any special manner, for what may either be done or omitted, on 
this subject. It is surrounded with difficulties, some of them, as I 
think, unnecessarily created ; and as these have been produced by 
measures in which I did not concur, it naturally bclonjis to others, 
who did concur in those measures, and who now possess the power, 
to apply the remedy according to their judgments, and on their 
own responsibility. But I incline, nevertheless, to express my 
opinions on a subject of such very high interest, and to let them 
have what weight they are entitled to, if it may be supposed that 
they are entitled to any weight at all. 

On one point, I presume, we are all agreed, and that is, that the 
subject is of great importance. It affects the finances of the coun- 
try, the security of the public money, and the state of the currency; 
and it affects, also, the practical and actual distribution of power 
among the several branches of the Government. 

The bill comprises provisions for two objects : 

First, regulations for the custody of the public money, between 
the time of its collection and the time of its disbursement ; and, as 
naturally connected with this, it contemplates, or must at least very 
materially affect, the currency of the country, the exchanges, and 
the usual operations of credit in the commercial world. 

The second direct object of the bill is, a reduction, positive or 
contingent, of the amount of money in the Treasury. 

It seems probable, Sir, the bill, so far as it respects the first of 
these objects, may be so modified as to receive the approbation of 
a majority of the Senate. A committee acting in a s])irit of con- 
ciliation, and with an honest desire to avoid the points of former 
difference, might, I think, agree on the regulations to be prescribed 
to the deposit banks. The sentiments which have been advanced 
in the course of the discussion do not appear to be irreconcilable. 
In the present state of things, I see no way but to employ State 
banks as depositories of the public money ; and I have a sincere 
desire to subject them to such regulations, and such only, as shall 

78 



79 

make them, in the highest practicable degree, safe to the Govern- 
ment and useful to the country. 

To this end, I am of opinion that the first step is, to increase 
their numbers. At present their number, especially in the large 
cities, is too small. They have too large sums in deposit, in pro- 
portion to their capital and their legal limits of discount. By this 
means the public money is locked up. It is hoarded. It is with- 
drawn, to a considerable extent, from the general mass of commer- 
cial means, and is suffered to accumulate, with no possible benefit 
to Gov^ernment, and with great inconvenience and injury to the 
general business of the country. On this point there seems little 
diversity of opinion. All appear to agree that the number of de- 
posit banks should be so far increased, that each may regard that 
portion of the public treasure which it may receive, as an increase 
of its effective deposits, to be used, like other moneys in deposit, as 
a basis of discount, to a just and proper extent. 

I regard this modification of the present system as indispensable. 

I think, too, that, for the use of these deposits, the banks should 
pay a moderate interest. They can well afford it. The best 
banks in the States will be ready, I do not doubt, to receive the 
deposits, on that condition among others. What the rate of interest 
should be, depends very much on what we may do with the sur- 
plus revenue. If we leave that surplus undistributed, the banks 
ought to pay a large interest. If we provide for distributing the 
surplus, thus leaving but a small amount in the banks, and making 
it their duty, at the same time, to transfer the public funds from 
place to place when requested, without charge, the rate of interest 
should of course be less. 

I agree, too, to what has been suggested, respecting the authority 
to change those banks. They ought not to be changed, but for 
plain and specific cause, set down and provided for in the law itself. 
Any restriction less than this, will place a discretion in the hands 
of the Executive, which will be very capable of being abused. 

Nor should the Secretary be at liberty to order funds from one 
bank to another, for any other reason than the exigencies of the 
public service. He should not be at liberty to use the public treas- 
ures for the purpose of upholding the credit, or increasing the means, 
of any State institution. 

The bill proposes that all the deposit banks shall be bound to 
keep, at all times, an amount of specie in their vaults bearing a cer- 
tain proportion to their debts and liabilities, I approve of this, not 
so much from any belief that the solidity ol' the banks can be secured 
by any such provisions, as because a regulation of this kind may 
tend, in some measure, to retain a certain quantity of specie in the 
country, and by that means to secure, in some small degree, the 



80 

general circulation apainst violent shocks. But I do not attach 
great importance to this. 

In my opinion, Mr. President, if the bill pass with these modifi- 
cations, a considerable benefit will be conferred on the community. 
Confidence will be, in some measure at least, restored ; the banks 
will possess the power of useful action, and the distressing uncer- 
tainty which now hangs over every thing being dispelled, the 
commercial community will find its way out of its present embar- 
rassment. 

Still, Sir, I am bound to say that the present system, in my 
opinion, can never be perfect. It can never be the best system. 
It can never be a safe regulator of the currency of the country, nor 
furnish solid security against derangement. It can never give to 
the mercantile world the cheapest, safest, and best means of facilita- 
ting domestic exchanges. The State banks were not made for 
these general purposes ; they are not fitted for them ; they have not 
the unity and comprehensiveness of plan and of operation which the 
successful accomplishment of such purposes requires. They are 
subject to various limitations by their charters, and it may even be 
doubtful, in some cases, whether they can legally bind themselves 
in such stipulations and contracts as we propose to submit to them. 
They were established for local, not for general objects. They 
did not expect to receive Government deposits ; and it might pos- 
sibly be thought important to their stockholders and customers to 
be informed whether, in case of failure or insolvency, the 'priority 
of the United States would prevail, as in other cases, to the post- 
ponement of all other debts and claims. It is certainly my opinion, 
,Sir, that we are running great hazards with the currency of the 
country. I see no well-assured reliance for its safety in this system 
of deposit banks, regulated as well as they may be. Nevertheless, 
regulation is necessary, nay, it is indispensable ; and some present 
benefit at least would arise, I am persuaded, from the passage of a 
proper law. 

I come now. Sir, to the other important object of this bill — the 
reductioji of the amount of money in the Treasury. 

And here the first question is, whether there will be any surplus 
revenue. Will there be any thing to divide at the end of this year ? 
On this point opinions are not agreed, but I think there will be a 
surplus, and a large surplus. I do not see any probability either 
of such a falling off of income, on the one hand, or such an increase 
of expenditure on the other, as shall leave the Treasury exhausted 
at the end of this year. I speak of this year only, because the 
measure which I shall propose will be limited to the end of this 
year. My plan is to provide for the surplus which may be on hand 
at the end of this year, and to stop there. As to the probable state 



81 

of the Treasury at that time, I agree it is matter of opinion and 
estimate ; but we know what sum is on hand now, and we are 
drawing the session to a close, when appropriations will cease ; and 
the year itself is already half expired. It would seem, then, that 
we ought to be able to judge of the state of the Treasury six months 
hence, without risk of great and wide mistake. I proceed on the 
following general estimate and calculation: 

January 1, 1836. Amount of money in the Treas- 
ury, $25,000,000 

Deduct unexpended balances of appropriations, 8,000,000 



$ 17,000,000 
Revenue of the first quarter of 1836, . . 11,000,000 

Estimate for the three last quarters of 1836, . 25,000,000 

Stock in late Bank of the United States, including 

premium, 8,000,000 



$61,000,000 
Appropriations in 1836, estimated 

at $35,000,000 

Deduct what will remain as unexpend- 
ed balance at the end of the year, 14,000,000 

21,000,000 



$40,000,000 



This estimate, Sir, does not rest solely on my own judgment. 
I find others acquainted with the subject, and competent to judge, 
coming to conclusions not far different from my own. It is true 
this rests in opinion. It cannot be mathematically proved that we 
shall have a surplus in the Treasury at the end of the year ; but 
the practical question is, whether that result is not so highly proba- 
ble that it is our duty to make some provision for it, and to make 
that provision now. I propose only to divide the surplus. If it 
shall happen, after all, that there shall be no surplus, then the 
measure will have done no harm. But if the surplus shall not be 
forty millions, but only thirty-five, thirty, twenty-five, or even twenty, 
still, if it be now probable that it will reach even the lowest of these 
sums, is it not our duty to provide for it ? 

This is a contingent measure, not a positive one. It is intended 
to apply to a case, in my judgment, very likely to arise; indeed, I 
may say a case which, in all probability, will arise; but if it should 
not, then the proposed measure will have no operation. 

I have already observed that, in my opinion, the measure should 
be limited to one single division — one distribution of the surplus 
money in the Treasury. In that respect, my proposition differs 

VOL. III. 11 



82 

from the bill of the honorable member from Carolina, and It differs, 
too, from the amendment proposed by the member from New York. 
I think it safest to treat the present state of things as extraordinary, 
as being the result of accidental causes, or causes, the recurrence 
of which, hereafter, we cannot calculate upon with certainty. 

There would be insuperable objections, in my opinion, to a settled 
practice of distributing revenue among the States. It would be a 
strange operation of things, and its effects on our system of govern- 
ment might well be feared. I cannot reconcile myself to the 
spectacle of the States receiving their revenues, their means even 
of supporting their own Governments, from the Treasury of the 
United States. If, indeed, the land bill could pass, and we could 
act on the policy, which I think tlie true policy, of regarding the 
public lands as a fund, belonging to the People of all the States, I 
should cheerfully concur in that policy, and be willing to make an 
annual distribution of the proceeds of the lands, for some years at 
least. But if we cannot separate the proceeds of tb.e lands from 
othsf revenue, if all must go into the Treasury together, and there 
remain together, then I have no hesitation in declaring, now, that 
the income from customs must be reduced. It must be reduced, 
even at the hazard of injury to some branches of manufacturing 
industry ; because this, in my opinion, would l)e a less evil than that 
extraordinary and dangerous state of diings, in which the United 
States should be found laying and collecting taxes, for the purpose 
of distributing them, when collected, among the States of the Union. 

I do not think it difficult to account for the present overflowing 
condition of the Treasury. The Treasury enjoys t\\'o sources of 
income — the custom-house and the public lands. The income 
from the customs has been large, because the commerce of the 
country has been greatly extended, and its prosperity has been 
remarkable. The exports of the country have continued to increase. 
While the cotton crop has grown larger and larger from year to 
year, the price of cotton has still kept up. Notwithstanding all the 
apprehensions entertained by prudent and sagacious men to the 
contrary, the world has not become overstocked with this article. 
The increase of consumption seems to keep pace with the increase 
of supply. The consequence is, a vast and increasing export by 
us, and an import corresponding with this export, and with the 
amount of earnings in the carrying trade ; since the general rule 
undoubtedly is, taking a number of years together, that the amount 
of imports, and the earnings of freights, are about equal to the 
amount of exports. The cotton-fields of the South most unques- 
tionably form a great part of the basis of our commerce, and the 
earnings of our navigation another. 

The honorable member from South Carolina has referred to the 
tariff act of 1828, as the true cause of the swollen state of the Treas- 



83 

ury. I agree that there were many things m the act of 1828 
unnecessarily put there. But we know they were not put there by 
the friends of the act. That act is a remarkable instance, I hope 
never to be repeated, of unnatural, violent, angry legislation. 
Those who introduced it designed, originally, nothing more than to 
meet the new condition of things which had been brought about by 
the altered policy of Great Britain in relation to taxes on wool. A 
bill with the same end in view had passed the House of Represen- 
tatives in 1827, but was lost in the Senate. The act of 1828, 
however, objectionable though it certainly was in many respects, 
has not been, in my opinion, the chief cause of the over-product of 
the customs. I think the act of 1832, confirmed by the act of 
1833, commonly called the compromise act, has had much more to 
do in producing that result. Up to the time of the passing of the 
act of 1832, the minimnm principle had been preserved in laying 
duties on certain manufactures, especially woollen cloths. This ill- 
understood and much-reviled principle appears to me, nevertheless, 
and always has appeared to me. to be a just, proper, effectual, and 
strictly philosophical mode of laying protecting duties. It is exactly 
conformable, as I think, with the soundest and most accurate prin- 
ciples of political economy. It is, in the most rigid sense, what all 
such enactments, so far as practicable, should be ; that is to say, a 
mode of laying specific duty. It lays the impost exactly where it 
will do (rood, and leaves the rest free. It is an intellicrent, discern- 
ing, discriminating principle ; not a blind, headlong, generalizing, 
uncalculating operation. Simplicity, undoubtedly, is a great beauty 
in acts of legislation, as well as in the works of art ; but in both it 
nnist be a simplicity, the result of congruity of parts, and adaptation 
to the end designed; not a rude generalization, which either leaves 
the particular object unaccomplished, or, in accomplishing it, ac- 
complishes a dozen others also, which were not desired. It is a 
simplicity which is wrought out by knowledge and skill ; not the 
rough product of an undistinguishing, sweeping, general principle. 
Let us suppose that the gradations in woollen cloths be represent- 
ed by a line. At one end of this line are those of the highest price, 
and let the scale descend to the other end, where, of course, will be 
those of the lowest price. Now, with the two ends of this line our 
manufacturers have not much to do ; that is to say, they have not 
much to do with the production of the very highest, or the very 
lowest, of these articles. Generally speaking, they work in the 
intermediate space. It was along this space, along this part of the 
line of work, that the minimum principle, as it has been usually 
called, operated. It struck just where the great object of protection 
required it to strike, and it struck nowhere else. All the rest it left 
free. It wasted no power. It accomplished its object by the least 
possible expenditure of means. Its aim vvas levelled at a distinct 



84 

and well-disccrned object, and its aim was exact, and the object 
was reached. 

But tlie minimum had become the subject of obloquy and re- 
proach. It was railed at, even, in good set terms, by some who 
professed to be, and who doubtless were, friends of the protecting 
policy. It was declared to be deception. It was said that it 
cheated the People, inasmuch as under its operation they did not 
see what amount of taxes they really paid. For one, I did not 
admit the fact, nor yield to the argument. I had no doubt the 
People knew what taxes they paid under the operation of the laws, 
as well as we who passed the laws ; and whether they stopped to 
make precise calculations or not, if they found the tax neither 
oppressive nor heavy, and the effect of the law decidedly salutary, 
1 did not believe they would complain of it, unless it was made a 
part of some other controversy. The minimum principle, however, 
in its application to broadcloths, was overthrown by the law of 
1832, and that law, as it came from the House of Representatives, 
and as it finally passed, substituted a general and universal ad va- 
.lorcm duty of fifty percent. An effort was made in the Senate to 
resist this general ad valorem system, and to hold on to the specific 
duty. But it did not prevail. The Senate was nearly evenly 
divided. The casting or turning vote was held by a gentleman, a 
friend for whom I always entertain very high regard, a member 
from IMaryland, not now in the Senate. After the discussion, he 
admitted himself almost satisfied that the law, in this particular, 
ought not to be altered ; but his impression against the minimxim, 
nevertheless, finally prevailed, and he voted for the new mode, that 
is to say, the general ad valorem mode of laying the duty ; and, to 
render this effectual, he himself proposed to carry that duty as high 
as sixty per cent. The Senate fixed it, indeed, at fifty-seven per 
cent. ; but the House non-concurred, and the law finally passed, as 
all know, establishing an ad valorem duty of fifty per cent, on 
woollen cloths, &ic. 

Now, Mr. President, when we recollect that the duties on woollen 
fabrics, of all kinds, bring into the Treasury four, or five, or six 
millions a year, every man acquainted with our manufactures must 
see at once that a portion of this vast sum is perfectly useless as a 
protecting duty ; because it is imposed on fabrics with which our 
own manufacturers maintain no competition, and in regard to which, 
therefore, they ask no protection. I have instituted sundry inqui- 
ries for the purpose of learning, and of showing, what is the amount 
of duties collected annually on woollens, which have no distinct 
bearing, as protecting duties, on any of the products of our manu- 
factiu'cs. At present I will only say, and will say that with great 
confidence, that of the surplus money now in the Treasury, several 
millions are the proceeds o{ ad valorem, duties, ^'\\vc\\ have conferred 



83 

no perceptible benefit whatever on our manufacturing establish- 
ments. It is, therefore, Sir, that 1 regard the law of 1832, and not 
the law of 1828, as the great error in our legislation. This law of 
1832 was confirmed by the act of 1833, and is, of course, in actual 
operation at the present moment, except so far as it has become 
affected by the gradual reduction provided for by the last-mentioned 
act. I wish not to discuss the act of 1833. 1 do not propose, at 
present, to disturb its operation ; but having alluded to it, I take the 
occasion of saying that I have not the least idea that that act can 
remain as the settled system of this country. When the honorable 
member from Kentucky introduced it, he called it a measure of 
conciliation, and expressed the hope that if the manufacturing inter- 
ests should be found to suffer under it, it might be modified by gen- 
eral consent. Although never concurring in the act, I entertain the 
same hope. I pray most fervently that former strifes and contro- 
versies on the tariff question may never be revived ; but at the 
same time it is my opinion that the principles established by the 
law of 1833 can never form the commercial system of this country. 

But, Mr. President, the most striking increase in the public reve- 
nue is in that branch of it which is derived from the sales of the 
public lands. How happens it that the proceeds from this quarter 
have sprung up, thus suddenly, to such a height? The Secretary's 
estimate of the proceeds of the sales of the public lands for this 
year was only four millions. The actual sales are likely to be 
twenty. What has occasioned this great and unexpected augmen- 
tation ? 

Sir, we are to remember that the growth and prosperity of the 
country, generally, are remarkable, and that, as these increase, the 
western tide, both of people and property, increases also. The 
reflow of this property is into the Treasury through the land-offices. 

The well-sustained demand for cotton has, of course, augmented 
the demand for cotton lands; and we all know that good lands, for 
the production of that crop, are sought for with great eagerness. 
We are to include, too, the great expansion of the paper circulation 
among the causes tending to produce heavy purchases ; and the 
amount of foreign capital that has found its way, through one chan- 
nel or another, into the country, and is giving an additional stimu- 
lus, and additional facility to enterprises, both public and private. 
IMany of the States have contracted large debts, for purposes of 
improvement, and these stocks have gone abroad. I suppose there 
may be fifty millions of State securities now owned in Europe. 
Foreign capital, also, has been introduced, to a great extent of late, 
as the basis of commercial enterprise — a thing ordinarily to be 
expected, when we look to the low rates of interest abroad, and the 
great demand for money at home. It would be hazardous to esti 
mate proportions and amounts on such a subject; but it is certain 



86 

that a large amount of properly now afloat, in ships and goods, 
owned by Americans, and sailing and transported on American 
account, is put into commercial operation by means of foreign capi- 
tal actually advanced, or acting through the agency of credit. This 
introduction of foreign capital, in all the various forms, has doubdess 
had some effect in extending our pajier circulation, and in raising 
prices ; and certainly it has had a direct effect upon the ability of 
making investments in the public lands. 

And, Sir, closely connected with these causes is another, which 
I should consider, after all, the main cause ; that is, the low price 
of land, compared with other descriptions of property. In every 
thing else prices have run up ; but here price is chained down by 
the statute. Goods, products of all kinds, and indeed all other 
lands, may rise, and many of them have risen, some twenty-five, 
and some forty or fifty per cent. ; but Government lands remain at 
a dollar and twenty-five cents an acre ; and vast portions of this 
land are equal, in natural ferulity, to any part of the globe. Tliere 
is nothing, on either continent, to surpass their quality. The Gov- 
ernment land, therefore, at the present prices, and at the present 
moment, is the cheapest safe object of investment. The sagacity 
of capital has found this out, and it grasps the opportunity. Pur- 
chase, it is true, has gone ahead of emigration ; but emigration 
follows it, in near pursuit, and spreads its thousands and its tens of 
thousands close on the heels of the surveyor and the land-hunter. 
When I traversed a part of the Western States, three years ago, I 
could not but ask myself, in the midst of the vast forests around me, 
AVhere are the people to come from who are to begin cultivation 
here, and to checker this wilderness with fields of wheat ? But, 
when returning on the Cumberland road, or while passing along 
other great channels of communication, I encountered the masses 
of population moving westward, I was tempted to ask myself, on 
the other hand, a far different question, and that was. Where in die 
world will all these people find room to settle ? 

Nor are we to overlook, in this survey of the causes of the vast 
increase in the sale of lands, the effects, almost magical, of that 
great agent of beneficence, prosperity, wealth, and power — intkr- 
NAt, IMPROVEMENT. This lias brought the West to the Atlantic, 
and carried the Atlantic to the West. Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, 
Michigan, and Wisconsin are no longer places remote from us. 
Rail-roads and canals have brouo;ht the settlers of these regions so 
near to us that we almost see the smoke of their cabins and hear 
the strokes of their axes. From Maine to the upper Mississippi is 
already a beaten track, with one's acquaintances every where along 
the road, and that road even not a long one, if we measure it by 
tlie time required to pass over it. 

Mr. President, if I am asked how long these causes, or any of 



87 

them, will continue to act, with this effective energy, I readily 
answer that I cannot foresee. Nor can I foresee other events, 
which may affect our revenue in years to come. And it is for this 
reason precisely, that what I propose is limited to a single year. 
All the uncertainties and contingencies which naturally belong to 
human affairs, hang over us. 1 know not what expenditures may 
be called for next year. I know not what may be necessary to 
satisfy the all-absorbing capacity of Indian wars and Indian treaties. 
I know not what events, at home or abroad, may shake our com- 
mercial security. I know not what frosts and blights may do 
against the cotton crops. I know not what may happen to our 
currency. I cannot tell what demands for the use of capital in 
other objects may slacken the purchase of public lands ; for I am 
persuaded that, hereafter, our income from that source is likely to 
be much more fluctuating than heretofore, as depending less on the 
actual amount of emigration, and more on the occasional plenty or 
scarcity of money. Emigration must hereafter supply its wants, 
much more than formerly, out of lands already separated from the 
public domain. 

Under these circumstances, it appears to me to be prudent to 
limit the proposed division to a single operation. Let us lighten 
the Treasury for once ; and then let us pause, and contemplate our 
condition. As to what may then be expedient, events will enlighten 
us. We shall be able to judge more wisely, by the result of our 
experiments, and the future will be more visible as it approaches 
nearer. 

It will be observed. Sir, that I give full time to the deposit banks 
to prepare themselves to pay over these funds. Time for this pur- 
pose is indispensable. We might do rather harm than good, if 
we were to require any sudden operation of that kind. Give the 
banks time ; let them know what they have to do ; let the commu- 
nity see into what channels the surplus funds are to flow, and when 
they are to begin to flow ; and men of business will then be able to 
see what is before them. 

I have the fullest confidence that if we now adopt this measure, 
it will immediately relieve the country. It will remove that severe 
and almost unparalleled pressure for money which is now distressing 
and breaking down the industry, the enterprise, and even the cour- 
age of the commercial community. I assure you, Sir, this present 
pressure is not known, or felt, or believed here, in any tiling like its 
true extent. If we give no relief, I know not what may happen, 
even in this day of high prosperity. 1 beseech those who have the 
power, not to let the opportunity pass, but to improve it, and thereby 
to revive the hopes and reassure the confidence of the country. 
Having expressed these sentiments, and brought forward this 
specific proposition for one division among the States of the surplus 



88 

funds, 1 should now move to commit the whole suhject, either to a 
select committee, or the Committee on Finance, were it not that, 
looking to the present composition of the Senate, I am not desirous 
of taking a lead in this measure. The responsibility naturally rests 
with those who have the power of majorities, and who may expect the 
concurrence of other branches. Meantime I cheerfully give myself 
to any labor which the occasion requires, and I express my own 
deep and earnest conviction of the propriety and expediency of 
the measures which I have endeavored to explain and to support. 

Mr. W. then proposed the following as an amendment to the 
"bill to regulate the deposits of the public money," as an additional 
section : — 

Sec. . And be it further enacted, That the money which shall bo in the 
Treasury of the United States on the first day of January, eighteen hundred 
and thirty-seven, reserving millions, shall be divided among the sev- 
eral States, in proportion to their respective amounts of population, as ascer- 
tained by the last census, and according to tiie provision of the second 
section of the first article of the Constitution ; and the Secretary of the 
Treasury shall pay the same to such persons as tiie several States may 
authorize to receive it, in the following proportions, and at the following 
times, viz. one half on the first day of April, eighteen hundred and thirty- 
seven; one quarter part, on the first day of July, eighteen hundred and 
thirty-seven ; and the remaining quarter on the first day of October, eighteen 
hundred and thirty-seven ; and all States which shall receive their several 
proportions according to the provisions of this act, shall be taken and under- 
stood thereby to pledge the public faith of such States to repay tiie same, 
or any part thereof, to the United States, whenever Congress shall require 
the same to be repaid by any act or acts which shall require such payment 
ratably, and in equal proportion, from all the States which had received the 
same. 



SPEECH 



IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, ON THE SPECIE 
CIRCULAR, DECEMBER 21, 183G. 



The Senate having again proceeded to the order of the day, which was the 
consideration of the following resolutions, heretofore moved by Mr. Ewing, of 
Ohio : — 

" Resolved hy the Senate and House of Representatives, Sfc, That the Treas- 
ury order of the eleventh day of July, Anno Domini one thousand eight 
hundred and thirty-six, designating the funds which should be receivable 
in payment for public lands, be, and the same is hereby, rescinded. 

" Resolved, also, That it shall not be lawful for the Secretary of the Treas- 
ury to delegate to any person, or to any corporation, the power of directing 
what funds shall be receivable for customs, or for the public lands ; nor shall 
he make any discrimination in the funds so receivable, between different 
individuals, or between the different branches of the public revenue." 



Mr. Webster addressed the Senate as follows : — 

Mr. President : The power of disposing of this important sub- 
ject is in the hands of gentlemen, both here and elsewhere, who are 
not likely to be influenced by any opinions of mine. I have no 
motive, therefore, for addressing the Senate, but to discharge a 
public duty, and to fulfil the expectations of those who look to me 
for opposition, whether availing or unavailing, to whatever I believe 
to be illegal or injurious to the public interests. In both these 
respects, the Treasury order of the 11th of July appears to me 
objectionable. 1 think it not warranted by law, and 1 think it also 
practically prejudicial. I think it has contributed not a little to the 
pecuniary difficulties under which the whole country has been, and 
still is, laboring ; and that its direct effect on one particular part of 
the country is still more decidedly and severely unfavorable. 

The Treasury order, or Treasury circular, of the Ilth of July 
last, is addressed by the Secretary to the receivers of public money, 
and to the deposit banks. It iostructs these receivers and these 
banks, after the I5th day of August then next, to receive in pay- 
ment of the public lands nothing except what is directed by existing 
laws, viz. gold and silver, and, in the proper cases, Virginia land 
scrip ; provided, that till the \bth of December then next, the same 

VOL. III. 12 89 ^ H* 



90 

indulgence heretofore extended, as to the kind of money received, 
may be continued, for any quantity of land not exceeding three 
hundred and twenty acres, to each purchaser who is an actual 
settler or bona fide resident in the State where the sales are 
made. 

The exception in favor of Virginia scrip is founded on a particular 
act of Congress, and makes no part of the general question. It is 
not necessary, therefore, to refer further to that exception. The 
substance of the general instruction is, that nothing but gold 
and silver shall be received in payment for public lands ; provided, 
however, that actual settlers and bona fide residents in the States 
where die sales are made may purchase in quantities not exceeding 
three hundred and twenty acres each, and be allowed to pay as 
heretofore. But this provision was limited to the 15th day of 
December, which has now passed ; so that, by virtue of this 
order, gold and silver are now required of all purchasers and for 
all quantities. 

I am very glad that a resolution to rescind this order has been 
thus early introduced ; and I am glad, too, since the resolution is to 
be opposed, that opposition comes early, in a bold, unequivocal, 
and decided form. The order, it seems, is to be defended as being 
both legal and useful. Let its defence then be made. 

The honorable member from Missouri (Mr, Benton) objects 
even to giving the resolution to rescind a second reading. He 
avails himself of his right, though it be not according to general 
practice, to arrest the progress of the measure at its first stage. 
This, at least, is open, bold, and manly warfare. 

The honorable member, in his elaborate speech, founds his oppo- 
sition to this resolution, and his support of tlie Treasury order, on 
those general principles respecting currency, which he is known to 
entertain, and which he has maintained for many years. His opin- 
ions some of us regard as altogether ultra and impracticable ; look- 
ing to a state of things not desirable in itself, even if it were prac- 
ticable, and if it were desirable, as being far beyond the power 
of this Government to brin'T about. 

The honorable member has manifested much perseverance, and 
abundant labor, most undoubtedly, in support of his opinions ; he 
is understood, also, to have liad countenance from high places ; and 
what new hopes of success the present moment holds out to him, I 
am not able to judge, but we s'aall probably soon see. It is pre- 
cisely on these general and long-known opinions that he rests his 
support of the Treasury order. A question, therefore, is at once 
raised between the gentleman's principles and opinions, on the sub- 
ject of the currency, and the principles and opinions which have 
generally prevailed in the country, and which are, and have been, 
entirely opposite to his. That question is now about to be put to 
the vote of the Senate. In the progress, and by the termination of 



91 

this discussion, we shall learn whether the gentleman's sentiments 
are, or are not, to prevail, so far, at least, as the Senate is concerned. 
The country will rejoice, I am sure, to see some declaration of the 
opinions of Congress on a subject about which so much has been 
said, and which is so well calculated, by its perpetual agitation, to 
disquiet and disturb the confidence of society. 

We are now fast approaching the day when one administration 
goes out of office, and another is to come in. The country has an 
interest in learning as soon as possible whether the new administra- 
tion, while it receives the power and patronage, is to inherit, also, 
the topics, and the projects, of the past; whether it is to keep up 
the avowal of the same objects and the same schemes, especially 
in regard to the currency. The order of the Secretary is prospec- 
tive, and, on the face of it, perpetual. Nothing in or about it gives 
it the least appearance of a temporary measure. On the contrary, 
its terms imply no limitation in point of duration, and the gradual 
manner in which it Is to come into operation shows plainly an 
intention of making It the settled and permanent policy of Govern- 
ment. Indeed, It Is but now beginning Its complete existence. It 
is only five or six days since its full operation has commenced. Is 
It to stand, as the law of the land and the rule of the Treasury, 
under the administration which is to ensue ? And are those notions 
of an exclusive specie currency, and opposition to all banks, on 
which It Is defended, to be espoused and maintained by the new 
administration, as they have been by its predecessor ? These are 
questions, not of mere curiosity, but of the highest interest to the 
whole country. 

In considering this order, the first thing naturally is to look for 
the causes which led to it, or are assigned for its promulgation. 
And these, on the face of the order itself, are declared to be " com- 
plaints which have been made of frauds, speculations, and monopo- 
lies in the purchase of the public lands, and the aid which Is said 
to be given to effect these objects by excessive bank credits, and 
dangerous. If not partial, facilities through bank drafts and bank 
deposits, and the general evil Influence likely to result to the public 
interest, and especially the safety of the great amount of money in 
the Treasury, and the sound condition of the currency of the coun- 
try, from the further exchange of the national domain In this man- 
ner, and chiefly for bank credits and paper money." 

This is the catalogue of evils to be cured by this order. In what 
these frauds consist, what are the monopolies complained of, or 
what is precisely Intended by these Injurious speculations, we are 
not Informed. All is left on the general surmise of fraud, specula- 
tion, and monopoly. It Is not avowed, or Intimated, that the Gov- 
ernment has sustained any loss, either by the receipt of bank notes, 
which proved not to be equivalent to specie, or In any other way. 
And it is not a little remarkable, that these evils of fraud, specula- 



92 

tion, and monopoly should have become so enormous, and so 
notorious, on the 11th of July, as to require this Executive inter- 
ference for their suppression, and yet that they should not have 
reached such a height as to make it proper to lay the subject before 
Conicress, althoutrh Congress remained in session until within seven 
days of the date of the order. And what makes this circumstance 
still more remarkable, is the fact that in his annual message at the 
commencement of the same session, the President had spoken of 
the rapid sales of the public lands as one of the most gratifying 
proofs of the general prosperity of the country, without suggesting 
jl that any danger whatever was to be apprehended from fraud, specu- 

' lation, or monopoly. His words were, "Among the evidences of 

the increasing prosperity of the country, not the least gratifying is 
that afforded by the receipts from the sales of the public lands, which 
amount, in the present year, to the unexpected sum of $ 1 1 ,000;000." 
From the time of the delivery of that message down to the date of 
the Treasury order, there had not been the least change, so far as I 
know, or so far as we are informed, in the manner of receiving 
payment for the public lands. Every thing stood on the 11th of 
July, 1836, as it had stood at the opening of the session, in Decem- 
ber, 1835. How so ditierent a view of things happened to be 
taken at the two periods, we may be able to learn, perhaps, in the 
further progress of this debate. 

The order speaks of the " evil influence " likely to result from the 
further exchange of the public lands into " paper money." Now, 
this is the very language of the gentleman from Missouri. He 
habitually speaks of the notes of all banks, however solvent, and 
however promptly their notes may be redeemed in gold and silver, 
as " paper money." Tlie Secretary has adopted the honorable 
member's phrases, and he speaks, too, of all the bank notes received 
at the land offices, although every one of them is redeemable in 
specie, on demand, but as so much " paper money." 

In this respect, also. Sir, I hope we may know more as we grow 
older, and be able to learn whetlier, in times to come, as in times 
recently passed, the justly obnoxious and odious character of " pa- 
per money " is to be applied to the issues of all the banks in all the 
States, with whatever punctuality they redeem their bills. This is 
quite new, as financial language. By paper money in its obnoxious 
sense, I understand paper, issued on credit alone, widiout capital, 
without funds assigned for its payment, resting only on the good 
faith and the future ability of those who issue it. Such was the 
paper money of our revolutionary times ; and such, perhaps, may 
j have been the true character of the paper of particular institutions 

since. But the notes of banks of competent capitals, limited in 
amount to a due proportion of such capitals, made payable on demand 
ill gold and silver, and always so paid on demand, are paper money 



93 

in no sense but one ; that is to say, they are made of paper, and 
they circulate as money. And it may be proper enough for those 
who maintain that nothing should so circulate but gold and silver, 
to denominate such bank notes " paper money," since they regard 
them but as paper intruders into channels which should flow only 
with gold and silver. If this language of the order is authentic, and 
is to be so hereafter, and all bank notes are to be regarded and 
stigmatized as mere " paper money," the sooner the country knows 
it the better. 

The member from ^Fissouri charges those who wish to rescind 
the Treasury order with two objects — first, to degrade and dis- 
grace the President, and next, to overthrow the constitutional 
currency of the country. 

For my own part, Sir, I denounce nobody ; I seek to degrade or 
disgrace nobodv. Holding: the order illesfal and unwise, I shall cer- 
tainly vote to rescind it; and, in the discharge of this duty, I hope 
I am not expected to shrink back, lest I should do something 
which might call in question the wisdom of the Secretary, or even 
of the President. And I hope that so much of independence as 
may be manifested by free discussion and an honest vote is not to 
cause denunciation from any quarter. If it should, let it come. 

As to an attempt to overthrow the constitutional currency of the 
country, if I were now to enter into such a design, I should be 
beginning at rather a late day, to wage war against the efforts of 
my whole political life. From my very first concern with public 
affairs, I have looked at the public currency as a matter of the 
highest interest, and hope I have given sufficient proofs of a dispo- 
sition at all times to maintain it sound and secure, against all attacks 
and all dancfers. ^Vhen I first entered the other House of Congress 
the currency was exceedingly deranged. Most of the banks had 
stopped payment, and the circulating medium had then become, 
indeed, paper money. So soon as a state of peace enabled us, I 
took some part in an effort, with others, to restore the currency to 
a better state ; and success followed that effort. 

But what is meant by the " constitutional currency," about which 
so much is said ? What species, or forms of currency, does the 
Constitution allow, and what does it forbid ? It is plain enough 
that this depends on what we understand by currency. Currency, 
in a large, and perhaps in a just sense, includes not only gold and 
silver, and bank notes, but bills of exchange also. It may include 
all that adjusts exchanges, and settles balances, in the operation of 
trade and business. But if we understand by currency the legal 
money of the country, and which constitutes a lawful tender for 
debts, and is the statute measure of value, then, undoubtedly, noth- 
ing is included but gold and silver. Most unquestionably there is 
no legal tender, and there can be no legal tender, in this country, 



94 

under the authority of this Government or any other, but gold and 
silver, either the coinage of our own mints, or foreign coins, at rates 
regulated by Congress. This is a constitutional principle, perfectly 
plain, and of the very highest importance. The States are expressly 
prohibited from making any thing but gold and silver a tender in 
payment of debts; and, although no such express prohibition is 
applied to Congress, yet, as Congress has no power granted to it, 
in this respect, but to coin money, and to regulate the value of 
foreign coins, it clearly has no power to substitute paper, or any 
thing else, for coin, as a tender in payment of debts, and in dis- 
charge of contracts. Congress has exercised this power, fully, in 
both its branches. It has coined money, and still coins it ; it has 
regulated the value of foreign coins, and still regulates their value. 
The legal tender, therefore, the constitutional standard of value, is 
established, and cannot be overthrown. To overthrow it, would 
shake the whole system. 

But if the Constitution knows only gold and silver as a legal 
tender, does it follow that the Constitution cannot tolerate the vol- 
untary circulation of bank notes, convertible into gold and silver at 
the will of the holder, as part of the actual money of the country? 
Is a man not only to be entitled to demand gold and silver for every 
debt, but is he, or should he be, obliged to demand it in all cases ? 
Is it, or should Government make it, unlawful to receive pay in any 
thing else? Such a notion is too absurd to be seriously treated. 
The constitutional tender is the thing to be preserved, and it ought 
to be preserved sacredly, under all circumstances. The rest remains 
for judicious legislation by those who have competent authority. 

I have already said that Congress has never supposed itself 
authorized to make any thing but coin a tender, in the payment of 
debts, between individual and individual ; but it by no means 
follows from this, that it may not authorize the receipt of any thing 
but coin in payment of debts due to the United States. 

These powers are distinct, and flow from different sources. The 
power of coinage is a general power; a portion of sovereignty, 
taken from the States and conferred on Congress, for the sake both 
of uniformity and of greater security. It is to be exercised for the 
benefit of all the People, by establishing a legal tender and standard 
of value in all transactions. 

But when Congress lays duties and taxes, or disposes of the 
public lands, it may direct payment to be made in whatever 
medium it pleases. The authority to lay taxes includes the power 
of deciding how they shall be paid ; and the power granted by the 
Constitution to dispose of the territory belonging to the United 
States, carries with it, of course, the power of fixing not only the 
price, and the conditions, and time of payment, but also the medium 
of payment. Both in respect to duties and taxes, and payments 



95 

for lands, it has been, accordingly, the constant practice of Con- 
gress, in its discretion, to provide for the receipt of sundry thinf^s, 
besides gold and silver. As early as seventeen hundred and ninety- 
seven, the pubhc stocks of the Government were made receivable 
for lands sold ; the six per cents, at par, and other descriptions of 
stock in proportion. This policy had, probably, a double purpose 
in view — the one to sustain the price of the public stocks, and the 
other to hasten the sale and settlement of the lands. Other statutes 
have given the like receivable character to Mississippi stock, and to 
Virginia land scrip. So Treasury notes were made receivable for 
duties and taxes ; and, indeed, if any such should now be found 
outstanding, I believe they constitute a lawful mode of payment, 
at the present moment, whether for duties and taxes, or for lands. 

But, in regard both to taxes and payments for lands. Congress 
has not left the subject without complete legal regulation. It has 
exercised its full power. The statutes have declared what should 
be received, from debtors and from purchasers, and have left no 
ground whatever for the interference of Executive discretion, or 
Executive control. So far as I know, there has been no period 
when this subject was not subject to express legal provision. When 
the duty act and the tonnage act were passed, at the first session of 
the first Congress, an act was passed also, at the same session, con- 
taining a section which prescribed the coins, and fixed their values, 
in which those duties were to be paid. From that time to this, the 
medium for the payment of public debts and dues has been a matter 
of fiked legal right, and not a matter of Executive discretion at all. 
The Secretary of the Treasury has had no more power over these 
laws than over other laws. He can no more change the legal mode 
of paying the duty than he can change the amount of the duty to 
be paid ; or alter the legal means of paying for lands, with any 
more propriety tlian he can alter the price of the lands themselves. 
It would be strange, indeed, if this were not so. It would be 
ridiculous to say that we lived under a Government of laws, if an 
Executive officer may say in what currency, or medium, a man 
shall pay his taxes and debts to Government, and may make one 
rule for one man, and another rule for another. We might as well 
admit that the Secretary had autjjority to remit or give in the debt 
of one, while he enforced payment on the other. 

I desire, Sir, even at d)e expense of some repetition, to fix the 
attention of the Senate to this proposition, that Congress, having by 
the Constitution authority to dispose of the public territory, has 
passed laws for the complete exercise of that power ; laws which 
not only have fixed the price of the public lands, the manner of 
sales, and the time of payment, but which have fixed also, with 
equal precision, the medium, or kinds of money, or of other things 
which shall be received in payment. It has neglected no part of 



96' 

this Important trust ; it has delegated no part of it ; it has left no 
ground, not an inch for Executive interposition. 

The only question, therefore, is. What is the law, or what was 
the law, when the Secretary issued his order? 

The Secretary considers that that which has been uniformly done 
for twenty years, that is to say, the receiving of payment for the 
public lands in the bills of specie-paying banks, is against law. He 
calls it an " indulgence ;" and this " indulgence " the order proposes 
to continue for a limited time, and in favor of a particular class of 
purchasers. If this were an indulgence, and against law, one might 
well ask, how has it happened, that it should have continued so 
long, especially through recent years, marked by such a spirit of 
thorough and searching reform ? It might be asked, too. If this be 
illegal, and an indulgence only, why continue it longer, and 
especially why continue it as to some, and refuse to continue it as 
to others ? 

But, Sir, it is time to turn to the statute, and to see what the legal 
provision is. On the 30th of April, 1816, a resolution passed both 
Houses of Congress. It was in the common form of a joint resolu- 
tion, and was approved by the President; and no one doubts, I 
suppose, that, for the purpose intended by it, it was as authentic 
and valid as a law in any other form. It provides, that "from and 
after the 20th day of February next, [1817,] no duties, taxes, debts, 
or sums of money, accruing or becoming payable to the United 
States, ouo;ht to be collected or received otherwise than in the legal 
currency of the United States, or Treasury notes, or notes of the 
Bank of the United States, or in notes of banks which are payable 
in specie on demand in the said legal currency of the United 
States." 

This joint resolution authoritatively fixed the rights of parties 
paying, and the duties of officers receiving. So far as respects the 
notes of the Bank of the United States, it was altered by a law of 
the last session ; but in all other particulars, it is, as I suppose, in 
full force at the present moment ; and as it expressly authorizes the 
receipt of such bank notes as are payable and paid on demand, I 
cannot understand how the receipt of such notes is a matter of 
" indulgence." We may as well say that to be allowed to pay in 
Treasury notes, or in foreign coins, or, indeed, in our own gold and 
silver, is an indulgence, since the act places all on the same ground. 

The honorable member from Missouri has, indeed, himself fur- 
nished a complete answer to the Secretary's idea ; that is to say, 
he defends the order on grounds not only differing from, but totally- 
inconsistent with, those assumed by the Secretary. He does not 
consider the receipt of bank notes hitherto, or up to the time of 
issuing the order, as an indulgence, but as a lawful right while it 
lasted. How he proves this right to be now terminated, and ter- 



97 

mlnated by force of the order, I shall consider presently. I only 
say now, that his argmnent entirely deprives the Secretary of the 
only ground assigned by him for the Treasury order. 

The Secretary directs the receivers to " receive in payment of the 
public lands nothing except what is directed by the existing laws, 
viz. gold and silver, and, in the proper cases, Virginia land scrip." 
Gold and silver, then, and, in the proper cases, Virginia land scrip, 
are, in the opinion of the Secretary, all that is directed to be received 
by the existing laws. The receipt of bank notes he considers, 
therefore, but an indulgence, a thing against law, to be tolerated a 
little longer, as to some cases, and then to be finally suppressed. 

Apparently not at all satisfied with this view of the Secretary, of 
the ground upon which his own order must stand, the member from 
Missouri not only abandons it altogether, but sets up another, wholly 
inconsistent with it. He admits the legality of payment in such 
bank notes up to the date of the order itself, but insists that the 
Secretary of the Treasury had a right of selection, and a right of 
rejection also ; and that, although the various modes of payment 
j)i-ovided by the resolution of 1816 were all good and lawful, till the 
Secretary should make some of them otherwise, yet that, by virtue 
of his power of selection or rejection, he might at any time strike 
one or more of them out of the list. And this power of selection 
or rejection he thinks he finds in the resolution of 1816 itself. 

I incline to think, Sir, that the Secretary will be as little satisfied 
with the footing on which his friend, the honorable member from 
Missouri, thus places his order, as that friend is with the Secretary's 
own ground. For my part, I think them both just half right ; that 
is to say, both, in my humble judgment, are just so far right as they 
distrust and disclaim the reasoning of each other. Let me state, 
Sir, as I understand it, the honorable member's argument. It is, 
that the law of 1816 gives the Secretary a selection ; that it pro- 
vides four different modes, or media, of payments ; that the Secre- 
tary is to collect the revenue in one, or several, or all these modes, 
or media, at his discretion ; that all are in the disjunctive, as I think 
he expressed it; and that the resolution, or law, is not mandatory or 
conclusive in favor of any one. According to the honorable mem- 
ber, therefore, if the Secretary had chosen to say that our own 
eagles and our own dollars should no longer be receivable, whether 
for customs, taxes, or public lands, he had a clear right to say so, 
and t6 stop their reception. 

Before a construction of so extraordinary a character be fixed on 
the law of 1816, something like the appearance of argument, I 
think, might be expected in its favor. But what is there upon 
which to found such an implied power in the Secretary of the Treas- 
ury ? Is there a syllable in the whole law which countenances any 
such idea for a single moment? There clearly is not. Tlie law 

VOL. III. 13 I 



m 

was Intended to provide, and does provide, in what sorts of money 
or other means of payment those who owe debts to the government 
shall pay those debts. 

It enumerates four kinds of money or other means of payment ; 
and can any thing be plainer than that he who has to pay may have 
his choice out of all four? All being equally lawful, the choice is 
with the payer, and not with the receiver. This would seem to be 
too plain either to be argued or to be denied. Other laws of the 
United States have made both gold and silver coins a tender in the 
payment of private debts. Did any man ever imagine that in that 
case the choice between the coins to be tendered was to lie with the 
party receiving ? No one could ever be guilty of such an absurdity. 
And unless there be something in the law of 1816 itself, which 
either expressly, or by reasonable inference, confers a similar power 
on the Secretary of the Treasury in regard to public payments, is 
there, in the nature of things, any difference between the cases? 
Now, there is nothing, either in the law of 1816, or any other law, 
which confers any such power on the Secretary of the Treasury, 
either directly or indirecdy, or which suggests, or intimates, any 
ground upon which such power might be implied. Indeed, the 
statement of the argument seems to me enough to confute it. It 
makes the law of 1816 not a rule, but the dissolution of all rule ; 
not a law, but the abrogation of all existing laws. According to 
the argument, the Secretary of the Treasury had authority, not only 
to refuse the receipt of Treasury notes, which had been issued upon 
the faith of statutes expressly making them receivable for debts and 
duties, and notes of the Bank of the United States, which were also 
made receivable by the law creating the bank, but to refuse also 
foreign coins, and the coinage of our own Mint ; puttmg thus the 
legislation of Congress for five-and-twenty years at the unrestrained 
and absolute discretion of the Secretary of the Treasury. It ap- 
pears to me quite impossible that any gentleman, on reflection, can 
undertake to support such a construction. 

But the gentleman relies on a supposed practice to maintain his 
interpretation of the law. What practice ? Has any Secretary 
ever refused to receive the notes of specie-paying banks, either at 
the custom-house or the land offices, for a single hour? Never. 
Has any Secretary presumed to strike foreign coin, or Treasury 
notes, or our own coin out of the list of receivables? Such an idea 
certainly never entered into the head of any Secretary. The gen- 
tleman argues that the Treasury has made discriminations; but 
what discriminations ? I suppose the whole truth to be simply this : 
that, admitting at all times the right of the party paying, to pay in 
notes of specie-paying banks, the collectors and receivers have not 
been held bound to receive notes of distant banks of which they 
knew nothing, and could not judge, therefore, whether their notes 



99 

came within the law. Those collectors and receivers were bound 
to receive the bills of specie-paying banks ; but as that duty arose 
from the fact that the notes tendered were the notes of specie-pay- 
ing banks, that fact, if not notorious or already known to them, must 
be made known, with reasonable certainty, before the duty to 
receive them became imperative. I suppose there may have been 
Treasury orders, regulating the conduct of collectors and receivers 
in this particular. Any orders which went further than this would 
go beyond the law. 

The honorable member quotes one of the by-laws of the late 
Bank of the United States ; but what has that to do with the sub- 
ject? Does the honorable member think that the by-laws of the 
late bank were laws to the People of the United States ? The 
bank was under no obligation to receive any notes on deposit 
except its own. It might, therefore, make just such an arrangement 
with the Treasury as it saw fit, if it saw fit to make any. But 
neither the Treasury, nor the bank, nor both together, could do 
away with the written letter of an act of Congress ; nor did either 
undertake so to do. 

But, Sir, what have been the gentleman's own opinions on this 
subject heretofore ? Has he always been of opinion that the Sec- 
retary enjoyed this power of selection, as he now calls it, under the 
law of 1816? Has he heretofore looked upon the various pro- 
visions of that law only as so many movable and shifting parts, to 
be thrown into gear and out of gear by the mere touch of the Sec- 
retary's hand ? Certainly, Sir, he has not thought so ; certainly he 
has looked upon that law as fixed, definite, and beyond Executive 
power, as clearly as other laws ; as a statute, to be repealed or 
modified only by another statute. No longer ago than the 23d of 
last April, the honorable member introduced a resolution into the 
Senate in the followin<T words : — 

" Resolved, That, from and after die day of , in the 

year 1836, nothing but gold and silver coin ought to be received in 
payment for public lands ; and that the Committee on Public 
Lands be instructed to report a bill accordingly." 

And now. Sir, I ask why the honorable member moved here for 
a bill and a law, if the whole matter was, in his opinion, within the 
power of the Secretary of the Treasury ? 

The Senate did not adopt this resolution. A day or two after 
its introduction, and when some little discussion had been had upon 
it, a motion to lay it on the table prevailed, hardly opposed, I think, 
except by the gendeman's own vote. A few weeks after this dis- 
position had been made of this resolution, the session came to a 
close, and, seven days after the close of the session, the Treasury 
order made its appearance. 

But this is not all. There is higher authority than even that of 



100 

the honorable member. Looking to the expiration of the charter 
of the Bank of the United States, the President, in his annual mes- 
sage in December last, said it was incumbent on Congress to 
dis'continup, by law, the receipt of the bills of that bank in payment 
of the public revenue. Now, as the charter was to expire on the 
3d of March, there was nothing to make its bills receivable after 
that period except the law of 1816. To strike the provision 
respecting notes of the bank out of that law, another law was indeed 
necessary, according to my understanding ; but I do not conceive 
how it should be thought necessary, upon the construction of the 
honorable member. Both Houses being of opinion, however, that 
the thing could not be done without law, an act was passed for that 
purpose, and was approved by the President. Here, then, Sir, is 
the gentleman's own authority, the authority of the President, and 
the authority of both Houses of Congress, for saying that nothing 
contained in the law of 1816 can be thrust out of it by any other 
power than the power of a subsequent statute. I am therefore ot 
opinion that the Treasury order of the 1 1th of July, is against the 
plain words and meaning of the law of 1816; against the whole 
practice of the Government under that law; against the honorable 
gentleman's own opinion, as expressed in his resolution of the 23d 
of April; and not reconcilable with the necessity which was sup- 
posed to exist for the passage of the act of last session. 

On this occasion I have heard of no attempt to justify the order 

on the ground of any other law, or act, but the act of 1816. When 

the order was published, however, it was accompanied with an 

exposition, apparently half official, which looked to the land laws 

as the Secretary's source of power, and which took no notice at all 

of the law of 1816. The land law referred to was the act of 18'20; 

but it turns out, upon examination, that there is nothing at all in 

that law to support the order, or give it any countenance whatever. 

The only clause in it which could be supposed to have the slightest 

reference to the subject is the proviso in the fourth section. That 

section provides for the sale of such lands as, having been once sold 

on credit, should revert or become forfeited to the United States 

through fiilure of payment ; and the proviso declares that no such 

lands shall be again sold on any other terms than those of " cash 

payment." These words, " cash payment," have been seized upon, 

as if they had wrought an entire change in the important provisions 

of the law of 1816, and already established an exclusive specie 

payment for lands. The idea is too futile for serious refutation. In 

the first |)lace, the whole section applies only to forfeited lands ; but 

the truth is, the term " cash payment," means only payment down, 

in contradistinction to credit, which had formerly been allowed ; just 

as the same words in the tariff act of July, 1832, mean payment 

down, instead of payment secured by bonds, when it says that the 



101 

duties on certain articles shall be paid in "cash." As to the 
second section of the land law of 1820, which was set forth with 
great formality in the exposition to which I have referred, as furnish- 
ing authority for the Secretary's order, there is not a word in it 
having any such tendency ; not a syllable which has any applica- 
tion to the matter. That section simply declares, that after the 
first day of July, in that year, every purchaser of land at public sale 
shall, on the day of purchase, make a complete payment therefor ; 
and the purchaser at private sale shall produce a receipt for the 
amount of the purchase money on any tract, before he shall enter 
the sacne at the land office. This is all. It does not say how the 
purchaser shall make complete payment, nor in w hat currency the 
purchase money shall be received. It is quite evident, therefore, 
that that section lends the order no support whatever. 

The defence of the order, then, stands thus: The Secretary 
founds it upon the idea that nothing but gold and silver was ever 
lawfully receivable, and that the receipt of bank bills has been all 
along an " indulgence,'' against law. For this opinion he gives no 
reasons. 

The honorable member from Missouri rejects this doctrine : he 
admits the receipt of bank notes to have been lawful until made 
unlawful by the order itself; and insists that the Secretary's power 
of stopping their further receipt, arises under the law of 1816, and is 
an authority derived from it. But, then, the long and half-official 
exposition which accompanied the publication of the order has no 
faith in the law of 1816 as a source of power, but makes a parade 
of a totally and perfectly inapplicable section, out of the land law 
of 1820. Grounds of defence, so totally inconsistent, cannot all be 
sound, but they may be all unsound ; and whether they be so or not, 
is a question which I would willingly leave to the decision of any 
man of good sense and honest judgment. I take leave of this part 
of the case for the present. I may pause at least, I hope, until 
those who defend the order shall be better agreed on what ground 
to place it. 

Mr. President, the subject of the currency is so important, so 
delicate, and, in my judgment, surrounded, at the present moment, 
with so much both of difficulty and of danger, that I am desirous, 
before making the few observations which I intend, on the existing 
condition of things and its causes, to avoid all misapprehension, by a 
general statement of my opinions respecting that subject. 

I am certainly of opinion, then, that gold and silver, at rates fixed 
by Congress, constitute the legal standard of value in this country ; 
and that neither Congress nor any State has authority to establish 
any other standard, or to displace this. But I am also of opinion 
that an exclusive circulation of gold and silver is a thing absolutely 
impracticable ; and if practicable, not at all to be desired ; inasmuch 

I* 



102 

as its effect would be to abolish credit, to repress the enterprise, 
and diminish the earnings of the industrious classes, and to produce, 
faster and sooner than any thing else in this country can produce, a 
moneyed aristocracy. 

I am of opinion that a mixed currency, partly coin and partly 
bank notes, the notes not issued in excess, and always convertible 
into specie at tlie will of the holder, is, in the present state of society, 
the best practical currency — always remembering, however, that 
bills of exchange perform a great part of the duty of currency, and, 
therefore, that the state of domestic exchange is always a matter of 
high importance, and great actual bearing on commercial business. 

I admit that a currency pardy composed of bank notes has 
always a liability, and often a tendency, to excess ; and that it 
requires the constant care and oversight of Government. 

I am of opinion, even, that the convertibility of bank notes into 
gold and silver, although it be a necessary guard, is not an absolute 
security, against occasional excess of paper issues. 

I believe even that the confining of discounts to such notes and 
bills as represent real transactions of purchase and sale, or to real 
business paper, as it is called, though generally a sufficient check, 
is not always so ; because I believe there is sometimes such a thing 
as over-trading, or over-production. 

What, then, it will be asked, is a sufficient check? I can only 
repeat what I have before said, that it is a subject which requires 
the constant care, watchfulness, and superintendence of Govern- 
ment. But our misfortune is, that we have withdrawn all care and 
all superintendence from the whole subject. We have surrendered 
the whole matter to eight-and-twenty States and Territories. With 
the power of coinage, and the power and duty of regulating com- 
merce, both external and internal, diis Government has little more 
control over the mass of money which circulates in the country, 
than a foreign Government. Upon the expiration of the charter of 
the Bank of die United States, new banks were created by the 
States. Sixty or eighty millions of banking capital have thus been 
added to the mass, since 1832. All this it was easy to foresee — 
it was all foreseen, and all foretold. The wonder only is, that the 
evil has not already become greater than it is ; and it would have 
been greater, and we should have had such an excess as would 
perhaps have depreciated the currency, had it not been for the 
extraordinary prosperity of the country. No very great excess, I 
believe, has as yet in fact happened, or rather no very great excess 
does now exist. There are sufficient evidences, I think, of this. 

In the first place, the amount of specie in the country is far 
greater than was ever known before, and it is not exported. In the 
next place, as all the banks as yet maintain their credit, and all pay 
specie on demand, the whole circulation is, in effect, equivalent to 



103 

a specie circulation ; and the state of the foreign exchange shows 
that the value of our money, in the mass, is not depreciated, since 
it may be transferred without any loss into the currency of other 
countries. Our money, therefore, is as good as the money of other 
countries. If it had fallen below the value of money abroad, the 
rates of exchange would instantly show that fact. There has been, 
therefore, as yet, or at least there exists at present, no considerable 
depreciation of money. If, then, it be asked, what keeps up the 
value of money, in this vast and sudden expansion and increase of 
it, I have already given the answer which appears to me to be the 
true one. It is kept up by an equally vast and sudden increase in 
the property of the country, and in the value of that property, 
intrinsic as well as marketable. None of us, I think, have estimated 
this increase high enough, and for that reason we have all been 
looking for an earlier fall in prices. It seems obvious to me, that 
an augmentation in the value of property, far exceeding all former 
experience in any country, even our own, has taken place in the 
United States within the last few years. The public lands may fur- 
nish one instance of this rapid increase. It was estimated last 
session, by my honorable friend from Ohio, (Mr. Ewing,) that the 
demands of actual settlers for lands for settlement were eight mil- 
lions of acres per annum, on an average of some years. These 
eight millions, if taken up at Government prices at private entry, 
would cost ten millions of dollars. Now, partly by cultivation, but 
more by the continued rush of emigration, both from Europe and 
the Atlantic coast, the value of these ten millions in a very few 
years springs up to forty millions ; that is to say, lands taken up at 
one dollar and a quarter an acre, soon become worth five dollars an 
acre for actual cultivation, and in intrinsic value.' And it is to be 
remembered that these lands are alienable and salable, with as 
little of form and ceremony, almost, as if they were goods and 
chattels. Now, if we make an estimate, not merely on the eight 
millions of acres required for actual settlement, but on the whole 
quantity selected and taken up annually, we shall see something 
of the addition to the whole amount of property which accrues 
annually from the public lands. A rise has taken place, too, though 
less striking, in the value of other lands, in the country ; and prop- 
erty, in goods, merchandise, products, and other forms, is rapidly 
augmented also, both in quantity and value, by the industry and 
skill of the People, and the extension and most successful use of 
machinery. 

Another most important element in the general estimate of the 
progress of wealth in the country, is the wonderful annual increase 
of the cotton crops, and the prices which the article bears. Last 
year's crop reached, probably, to eighty millions of dollars. Now, 
most of the cotton produced in the United States is sold, once, at 



104 

least, in the country, and much of it many times. The bills drawn 
against it when shipped, either for Europe or the Atlantic ports, are 
usually cashed at the place of drawing, commonly, no doubt, by 
means of bank notes, or bank credits. 

I put all these cases but as instances showing the increased 
value of property and amount of business in the country, and 
accounting therefore for an expansion of the circulation, with- 
out supposing great excess ; since it is obvious that the circulating 
money of a country naturally bears a proportion to the whole 
mass of property, and to the number and amount of business 
transactions. 

But there is another cause of a less favorable character, which 
may have had its eftect already ; or, if not, is very likely to have it 
hereafter in ausmenting the circulation of bank notes ; I mean the 
obstruction and embarrassment of the domestic exchanges. In a 
proper and natural state of affairs, the place of currency, or money, 
is filled to a great extent by bills of exchange ; and this continues 
to be the case so lonu as the rates of the exchange remain low and 
steady. Nobody, for example, will send bank notes or specie from 
New York to New Orleans, if he can buy a good bill at par, or 
near par. But when exchange becomes disturbed, when rates rise 
and fluctuate, bills cease to be able to perform this function, and 
then bank notes begin to be sent about from place to place, in 
quantities, to supply the place of bills of exchange, in payment of 
debts and balances. All such, and all other, derangements and 
distractions in the free course of domestic exchanges, necessarily 
produce an unnatural and considerable increase of the circulation. 
So far as our circulation has been, or may be, augmented by this 
cause, so far both the cause and the effect are to be deplored. In 
my opinion, we have certainly reason to fear this excess hereafter. 
What is to prevent it? Is it possible that so many State banks, 
so far apart, so unknown to each other, with no common objects, 
no common principles of discount, and no general regulation what- 
ever, should act so much in concert, and upon system, as to main- 
tain the currency of the country steady, without eidier unjust 
expansion or unnecessary contraction ? I believe it is not possible. 
1 believe many of those who insist so much on hard money circula- 
tion believe this also ; and that they press their impracticable hard 
money notions, from a consciousness that the discontinuance of a 
national insutution has brought the country into a condition in which 
it is threatened with issues of irredeemable paper. 

Our present evil, however, is of a different kind. It is, indeed, 
somewhat novel and anomalous. With high general prosperity, 
good crops, generally speaking, an abundance of the precious 
metals, and a favorable state of foreign exchanges, men of business 
have yet felt, for some months, an unprecedented scarcity of money. 



105 

That Is the state of things ; its cause, in my opinion, is expressed in 
a few \\or(ls : it is the derangement of internal intercourse, and 
internal exchange. Our difficulty is not exhaustion, but obstruction. 
Every body has means enougli, but nobody can use his means. 
All the usual channels of commercial dealing are blocked up. The 
manufocturers of the North cannot obtain from the South the pro- 
ceeds of the sales of their articles; the South finds money scarce, 
too, in the midst of its abundant exports. 

In a country so extensive and so busy, every merchant's means 
become more or less dispersed, and exist in various places in the 
shape of debts. Exchange is the instrument, the wand, by which 
he reaches forth to these means wherever they are, and uses them 
for his immediate and daily purposes. But this instrument is 
broken. He can no longer touch with it his distant debt, and make 
that debt present money. He seeks, therefore, for expedients ; 
borrows money, if he can, till times change ; pays enormous rates 
of interest to maintain credit; thinks things, when at the worst, 
must soon change ; looks for reaction, and sacrifices to capitalists, 
brokers, and money-lenders, the hard earnings of years, rather than 
fail to fulfil his commercial engagements. It is a happy and blessed 
hour, this, for greedy capital and grasping brokerage ; an excrucia- 
ting one for honest industry. The very rich grow every day richer; 
the laborious and industrious, every day poorer. Meantime, the 
highways of commercial dealing and exchanges grow more and 
more founderous, or are all breaking up. Specie, always most 
useful as the basis of a circulation, when most in repose, gets upon 
the move. Any time the last four months it might have happened, 
and many times doubtless it has happened, that steam-boats from 
New York, carrying specie to Boston, have passed in the Sound 
steam-boats from Boston carrying specie to New York. Boating 
and carting money backward and forward becomes the order of 
the day ; and there are those who, the more they hear of specie, 
hauled and transported about from place to place, in masses, the 
more they flatter themselves with the idea that the country is return- 
ing rapidly to a safe and happy specie circulation ! 

There may be other minor causes. They are not worth enumer- 
ating. The great and immediate origin of evil is disturbance in the 
exchange; and, in my opinion, this disturbance has been caused 
by the agency of the Government itself. The fifty millions in the 
Treasury have been agitated by unnecessary transfers. As a large 
portion of tliis sum was to be deposited with the States at the 
beginning of next year, the Secretary seems to have thought it 
necessary to cut up, divide, and remove assigned portions of it 
before the time came. It is this idea of removal that has wrought 
the mischief. In consequence of this, money has been taken from 
places of active commercial business, where it was much needed, 

VOL. III. 14 



106 

and all used, and carried to places where it was not needed, and 
could not be used. 

The agricultural State of Indiana, for example, is full of specie; 
the highly commercial and manufacturing State of Massachusetts is 
severely drained. In the mean time, the money in Indiana cannot 
be iised. It is waiting for the new year. The moment the Treas- 
ury grasp is let loose from it, it will tend again to the great marts 
of business ; that is to say, the restoration of the natural state of 
thino-s will begin to correct the evil of arbitrary and artificial finan- 
cial arrangements. The money will go back to the places where 
it is wanted. It wall seek its level, and its place of usefulness. In 
my opinion, the proper execution of the deposit law did not make 
it at all necessary for the Treasury to order these previous local 
changes. The law itself is not answerable for the inconvenience 
which has resulted. When the time came, the States, all of them, 
would have been very glad to receive the money where it was. 
They wanted but an order for it. They desired no carting. Can 
any thing be more preposterous than to transfer specie from New York 
to Nashville, when to a man in Nashville specie in New York is two 
per cent, more valuable than if he had it in his own house ? There 
is always a tendency in specie, not actually in the pockets of the 
People, towards the great marts and places of exchange. Those 
who want it, want it there. There the great transactions of com- 
merce are performed, and there the means of those transactions 
naturally exist, simply because there they are required. Now, 
what reason was there for disturbing the revenue, thus lying 
where it had been collected, and thus mingled with the commerce 
of the country? Why laboriously drag it off, far from its place of 
useful action, to places where it was not wanted, and could do no 
good, and there hold it, under the key of the Treasury. 

This anticipation of the operation of the deposit law — this 
attempt at local distribution — this arbitrary system of transfer, which 
seems to forget at once the necessities of commerce, and the real 
uses of money, I regard as the direct and prime cause of the 
pressure felt by the community. But the Treasury order came 
powerfully in aid of this. This order checked the use of bank notes 
in the West, and made another loud call for specie. The specie, 
therefore, is transferred to the West to pay for lands ; being received 
for lands, it becomes public revenue, is brought to the East for 
expenditure, and passes, on its way, other quantities going West, to 
buy lands also, and in the same way to return again to the East. 
Now, Sir, how does all this improve the currency ? What fraud 
does it prevent, what speculation does it arrest, what monopoly does 
it suppress ? I am very much mistaken if all this does not em- 
barrass the small purchaser of land much more than the large one. 
He who has fifty or a hundred thousand dollars to lay out, may 



107 

collect his specie, not without some charge, it is true, but without a 
very heavy charge. But, if there be a man, with a hundred or 
two dollars, waiting to take up a small parcel for actual settlement, 
and his money be in bank notes, and the bank, perhaps, at a great 
distance, what has he to do ? He must send far to exchange a 
little money ; or else he must submit to any brokerage which he 
may find established in the neighborhood of the land-office. Upon 
llie local operation of this order, however, I say the less, as on that 
point Western gentlemen are better informed and better judges. 

I am willing to hope. Sir, and, indeed, I do hope and believe, 
that when the first payment or deposit under the act of last session 
shall have been made, and the States shall have found some use 
and employment for tiie money, and when this unnatural transfer 
system shall cease, money will seek its natural channels, and com- 
mercial business resume, in some measure, its accustomed habits. 
But this Treasury order will be a disturbing agent, every hour it is 
suffered to exist. Indeed, it cannot be allowed to exist long. It 
is not possible that the West can submit to a measure at once so 
injurious and so partial. Hard money at the land-office, and bank 
notes at the custom-house, must make men open their eyes after a 
while, whatever degree of political confidence weighs down their 
lids. I look upon it, therefore, as certain, that the order will not 
be permitted long to remain in force. 

If I am now asked, Sir, whether, supposing this order to be 
rescinded, and the deposit law executed, and the transfers discon- 
tinued, affaii-s will return to their former state, I answer, with all 
candor, that though I look, in those events, for a great improvement, 
1 do not expect to see the domestic exchanges and the currency 
return entirely to their former state. I do not believe there is any 
agency at work, at present, competent to bring about this desirable 
end. In other words, I do not believe that the deposit banks, 
however well administered, ran fully supply the place of a national 
institution ; and I am very much mistaken if intelligent men, con- 
nected with those institutions themselves, believe any such thing. 
I find, that in 1828, 1829, 1830, 1831, and 1832, exchange at New 
York, in the southern and south-western cities, averaged three 
fourths of one per cent, discount, or thereabouts. Now, I doubt 
whether the most sanguine of those connected with the deposit 
banks expect to be able, through their means, to bring back ex- 
changes to that state, or any thing like it. 

The deposit banks are separate and distinct institutions, many of 
them strangers to each other, without full confidence in each other, 
and all acting without uniformity of purpose. Their objects are 
distinct, their capitals distinct, their interests distinct. If one of 
them has connection with some others, it yet has no unbroken chain 
of connection. They have nothing which runs through the whole 



108 

circle of the exchanges, as thai circle is drawn through the great 
commercial cities of tlie Union. They can only act in the business 
of exchange to the extent of funds, or not much beyond it, actually 
existintr. A national institution, with branches or agencies at 
different points, may deal m exchanges between these points in 
amounts to meet the convenience of the Public, without reference 
to the fact of the existence of local funds. One institution, there- 
fore, with branches, has facilities which never can be possessed by 
different institutions, however honorably or ably conducted. 

For myself, I am of the same opinion as formerly, that for the 
administration of the finances of the country, for the facility of inter- 
nal exchanges, and for the due control and regulation of the actual 
currency, a national institution, under proper guards and limits, is 
by far the best means within our reach. And I am, as I always 
have been, of opinion, that Congress, having the power of regula- 
ting commerce, and the power over the coinage, has power, also, 
which it is bound to exercise, by lawful means, over diat currency 
in which the revenue is to be collected, and which is to carry on 
that commerce, external and internal, which is thus committed to 
its regulation and protection. Ail the duties of this Government 
are, in my judgment, not fulfilled, while it leaves these great inter- 
ests, thus confided to its own care, to the discretion of others, or to 
the results of chance. But I will not go farther into these subjects 
at the present time. 

Mr. President, I am indifferent to the form in which the Treas- 
ury order may be done away. Gentlemen may please themselves 
in the mode. I shall be satisfied with the substance. Believing it 
to be both illegal and injurious, I shall vote to rescind, to revoke, to 
abolish, to supersede, to do any thing which may have the effect of 
terminating its existence. 



In Senate, January 30, 1837. 

The bill to limit and designate the funds in which dues to the United States 
shall be receivable, having been read a third time, and the question being on its 
passage, Mr. Morris having concluded an argument against the constitution- 
ality of the bill, 

Mr. Webster said, when the resolution moved by the Senator 
from Ohio, (Mr. Ewing,) to rescind the Treasury order of July last, 
was under discussion, I expressed the sentiments which 1 then 
entertained, and which I hold now, in regard to that measure. My 
great object, as I then said, and now say, is to get rid of the order. 
I was not, and am not now, very solicitous as to the particular mode. 
When the subject was sent to the Committee on die Public Lands, 



109 

(though my own impression had been that it should have been 
referred rather to the Committee on Finance,) I assented, in the 
hope tliat they would confine what they should propose, to the 
single object of getting rid of the order. But for that order, I pre- 
sume that few would have been willing to touch the subject at all. 
The majority of the Senate were content that matters should have 
remained as they were under the joint resolution of 1816. But as 
the order interfered with the provisions of that resolution, it was 
deemed necessary that something should be done. I regret that this 
bill is not such a one as was called for by the exigency, and con- 
fined to the exigency. It goes beyond what was needed, in impor- 
tant respects, and, though I most cordially wish for the abolition 
of the Treasury order, there are some things in this bill which do 
not accord at all with my own view of what the public interest 
requires. I feel, therefore, somewhat at a loss to know what is the 
true line of my duty on this occasion. I will state my difficulties. 
In the first place, I see nothing in the bill that is fixed and stable, 
defined and determinate ; nothing peremptory and decisive, as mat- 
ter of law. I asked the honorable chairman who reported the bill, 
whether he understood it to be peremptory in its character, and 
would be so in its practical effect, or not ? And his answer was, 
that he did not doubt that its operation would be to produce a great 
reform in the state of the currency. Now, what I want to know is, 
whether this bill will furnish the country with a legal statute rule as 
to the payment of debts ; or whedier the whole matter will not be 
left very much in the discretion of the Secretary of the Treasury. 
I think it leaves too much in that discretion. It provides that he 
may issue orders as he may deem necessary, in order to secure the 
collection of the revenue in specie and bills of specie-paying banks. 
Now, supposing the Secretary should not think that any further 
order of any kind is necessary. Then matters will remain precisely 
as they are now. Suppose he should believe one kind of order 
necessary for one part of the country, and another for another part. 
The bill would allow all this. It secures no uniform or certain rule. 

Again: the particular provisions of the bill appear to me (with 
great deference) to have been not well considered. If its enact- 
ments amount to a positive statute, (and not a mere permission or 
recommendation,) then neither land scrip nor revolutionary scrip 
can be received lor the public lands ; or, if they can be received for 
the public lands, they can equally be received for the customs. 
This, I presume, was not intended. The bill is imperfect ; it im- 
poses no duty on the Secretary, it enacts no law to supersede a 
Treasury order; the whole subject is left within the discretion of 
the Secretary. 

While, on the one hand, it does not directly relieve the country 
from the existing illegal and unconstitutional Treasury order, on the 

J 



no 

other, it does not provide a circulating medium which shall be uni- 
form and legal in its character. Could we say, in so many words, 
that all the debts of this government shall be collected in such mode 
as the Secretary of the Treasury shall think best ? Or that such 
funds shall be received as the Secretary shall think most expedient, 
with a view to increase a specie circulation ? thus presenting a mere 
indication of the object he is to have in view, and leaving all the rest 
to him. Would that be law? would that be constitutional ? What 
sort of a tender might a debtor of the United States make, under 
this law, in discharge of his debt? Suppose he tenders Virginia 
land scrip, and the answer given him is, " The Secretary of the 
Treasury has not issued any order that land scrip shall be receivable 
at the custom-house," would that not be a good answer ? As this 
bill repeals all other enactments in pari materie, does it not refer 
the whole to the Secretary? May he not issue one order to-day, 
and another to-morrow ? one order in the North-west, and another 
in the South-west ? It is surely most important that, on such a sub- 
ject, there should be a plain, settled, statutory provision, declaring 
what is receivable in discharge of debts due the Government, so 
that men may know what are their rights. To me it appears that, 
by this bill, in its present form, the whole subject is left in greater 
doubt than before. If we do any thing with a view to rescinding 
the objectionable order, let us have a bill that shall apply to the 
exigency, to that single object, and give the country some uniform 
and stable rule. If -"ve reject the Treasury order, let us reenact 
the resolution of 1816 •. that will get rid of any thing like rebuke 
or reproach in regard to the order, and will give us at least a law 
to guide us. As the bill stands, it leaves every thing in the will of 
the Secretary of the Treasury. 



REMARKS 



IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, ON THE PROTEST 
AGAINST EXPUNGING. MONDAY, JANUARY 16, 1837. 



The Senate having under consideration the Resolutions, moved by Mr. Ben- 
ton, for expunging from the Journal of Proceedings of the Senate, for March, 
1834, a Resolution declaring the opinion of the Senate concerning the illegality 
of the removal of the public money from its lawful place of deposit, the Bank 
of the United States ; and the Debate thereon having come to a close, and the 
question being about to be taken on agreeing to the said Resolutions, Mr. 
Webster rose and addressed the Senate as follows : — 

Mr. President : Upon the truth and justice of the original 
resolution of the Senate, and upon the authority of the Senate to 
pass that resolution, I had an opportunity to express my opinions at 
a subsequent period, when the Presidpnt's protest was before us. 
Those opinions remain altogether unchanged. 

And now, had the Constitution secured the privilege of entering 
a Protest on the journal, I should not say one word on this oc- 
casion ; although, if what is now proposed shall be accomplished, 
1 know not what would have been the value of such a proposition, 
however formally or carefully it might have been inserted in the 
body of that instrument. 

But, as there is no such constitutional privilege, I can only effect 
my purpose by thus addressing the Senate ; and I rise, therefore, 
to make that PROTEST in this manner, in the face of the Senate, 
and in the face of the country, which I cannot present in any- 
other form. 

I speak in my own behalf, and in behalf of my colleague ; we 
both speak as Senators from the State of Massachusetts, and, as 
such, we solemnly Protest against this whole proceeding. 

We deny that Senators from other States have any power or 
authority to expunge any vote or votes which we have given here, 
and which we have recorded, agreeably to the express provision of 
the Constitution. 

We have a high personal interest, and the State whose repre- 
sentatives we are, has also a high interest in the entire preservation 
of every part and parcel of the record of our conduct, as members 
of the Senate. "^ 



112 

This record the Constitution solemnly declares shall be Tctpi ; 
but the resolution before the Senate declares that this record shall 
be eccpunged. 

Wliether subterfuge and evasion, and, as it appears to us, the 
degrading mockery of drawing black lines upon the journal, shall 
or shall not leave our names and our votes legible, when this vio- 
lation of the record shall have been completed, still the terms " to 
expunge " and the terms " to keep," when applied to a record, 
import ideas exactly contradictory ; as much so as the terms " to 
preserve" and the terms " to destroy." 

A record which is expunged, is not a record which is Icept, any 
more than a record which is destroyed can be a record \\hich is 
preserved. The pail expunged is no longer part of the record ; it 
has no longer a legal existence. It cannot be certified as a part 
of the proceeding of the Senate for any purpose of proof or 
evidence. 

The object of the provision in the Constitution, as we think, 
most obviously is, that the proceedings of the Senate shall be pre- 
served, in writing, not for the present only, not until published only, 
because a copy of the printed journal is not regular legal evidence ; 
but preserved indefinitely ; preserved, as other records are pre- 
served, till destroyed by time or accident. 

Every one must see that matters of the highest importance de- 
pend on the pemianent preservation of the jounials of the two 
Houses. What but the journals show that bills have been reg- 
ularly passed into laws, through the several stages ; what but the 
journal shows who are members, or who is President, or Speaker, 
or Secretary, or Clerk of the body ? What but the journal con- 
tains the proof, necessary for the justification of those who act under 
our authority, and who, without the power of producing such 
proof, must stand as trespassers? What but the journals show who 
is appointed, and who rejected, by us, on the President's nomina- 
tion ; or who is acquitted, or who convicted, in trials on impeach- 
ment ? In short, is there, at any time, any other regular and legal 
proof of any act done by the Senate than the journal itself? 

The idea, therefore, that the Senate is bound to preserve its 
journal only until it is published, and then may alter, mutilate, or 
destroy it at pleasure, appears to us one of the most extraordinary 
sentiments ever advanced. 

We are deeply grateful to those friends who have shown, with 
so much clearness, that all the precedents relied on to justify or to 
excuse this proceeding, are either not to the purpose, or, from the 
times and circumstances at and under which they happened, are no 
way entitled to respect in a free Government, existing under a 
written Constitution. But, for ourselves, we stand on the plain 
words of that Constitution itself. A thousand precedents elsewhere 



113 

made, whether ancient or modem, can neitlier rescind, nor control, 
nor explain away these words. 

The words are, that " each House shall keep a journal of its 
proceedings." No gloss, no ingenuity, no specious interpreta- 
tion, and much less can any fair or just reasoning reconcile the pro- 
cess of expunging with the plain meaning of these words, to the 
satisfaction of the common sense and honest understanding of 
mankind. 

If the Senate may now expunge one part of the journal of a 
former session, it may, with equal authority, expunge another part, 
or the whole. It may expunge the entire record of any one session, 
or of all sessions. 

It seems to us inconceivable how any men can regard such a 
power, and its exercise at pleasure, as consistent with the injunction 
of the Constitution. It can make no difference what is the com- 
pleteness or incompleteness of the act of expunging, or by what 
means done ; whether by erasure, obliteration, or defacement ; if 
by defacement, as here proposed, whether one word or many words 
are wxitten on the face of the record ; whether little ink or much 
ink is shed on the paper ; or whether some part, or the whole, 
of the original written journal may yet by possibility be traced. 
If the act done be an act to expunge, to blot out, to obliterate, 
to erase the record, then the record is expunged, blotted out, 
obliterated, and erased. And mutilation and alteration violate 
the record as much as obliteration or erasure. A record, subse- 
quently altered, is not the original record. It no longer gives a 
just account of the proceedings of the Senate. It is no longer true. 
It is, in short, no journal of the real and actual proceedings of the 
Senate, such as the Constitution says each House shall keep. 

The Constitution, therefore, is, in our deliberate judgment, viola- 
ted by this proceeding, in the most plain and open manner. 

The Constitution, moreover, provides that the yeas and nays, on 
any question, shall, at the request of one fifth of the members pres- 
ent, he entered on the journal. This provision, most manifestly, 
gives a personal right to those members who may demand it, to the 
entry and preservation of their votes on the record of the proceed- 
ings of the body, not for one day or one year only, but for all time. 
There the yeas and nays are to stand, forever, as permanent and 
lasting proof of the manner in which members have voted on great 
and important questions before them. 

But it is now insisted that the votes of members taken by yeas 
and nays, and thus entered on the journal, as matter of right, may 
still be expunged ; so that that, which it requires more than four 
fifths of the Senators to prevent from bebg put on the journal, may, 
nevertlieless, be struck off, and erased, the next moment, or at any 
period afterwards, by the will of a mere majority ; or, if this be 
VOL. HI. 15 J* 



114 

not admitted, then the absurdity is adopted of maintaining that this 
provision of tlie Constitution is fulfilled by merely preserving the 
yeas and nays on the journal, after having expunged and oblitera- 
ted the very resolution, or the very question, on which they were 
given, and to which alone they refer ; leaving the yeas and nays 
thus a mere list of names, connected with no subject, no question, 
no vote. We put it to the impartial judgment of mankind, if this 
proceeding be not, in this respect, also, directly and palpably in- 
consistent with the Constitution. 

We protest, in the most solemn manner, that other Senators have 

no authority to deprive us of our personal rights, secured to us by 

the Constitution, either by expunging, or obliterating, or mutilating, 

il or defacing, the record of our votes, duly entered by yeas and nays ; 

I*' or by expunging and obliterating the resolutions or questions on 

which those votes were given and recorded. 
|i We have seen, with deep and sincere pain, the Legislatures of 

respectable States instructing the Senators of tliose States to vote 
for and support this violation of the journal of the Senate ; and 
this pain is infinitely increased by our full belief, and entire convic- 
tion, that most, if not all these proceedings of States had their 
origin in promptings from Washington ; that they have been ur- 
gently requested and insisted on, as being necessary to the accom- 
plishment of the intended purpose ; and that it is nothing else but 
|i the influence and power of the Executive branch of this Govern- 

ment which has brought the Legislatures of so many of the free 
States of this Union to quit the sphere of their ordinary duties, for 
the purpose of cooperating to accomplish a measure, in our judg- 
ment, so unconstitutional, so derogatory to the character of the Sen- 
ate, and marked with so broad an impression of compliance with 
power. 

But this resolution is to pass. We expect it. That cause, 
which has been powerful enough to influence so many State Legis- 
latures, will show itself powerful enough, especially with such aids, 
to secure the passage of the resolution here. 

We make up our minds to behold the spectacle which is to 
ensue. 

We collect ourselves to look on In silence, while a scene is ex- 
hibited, which, if we did not regard it as ruthless violation of a 
sacred instrument, would appear to us to be little elevated above 
the character of a contemptible farce. 

This scene we shall behold, and hundreds of American citizens, 
as many as may crowd into these lobbies and galleries, will behold 
it also ; with what feelings I do not undertake to say. 

But we Protest, we most solemnly Protest, against the sub- 
stance and against the manner of this proceeding ; against its ob- 
ject, against its form, and against its effect. We tell you that you 



115 

have no right to mar or mutilate the record of our votes given here, 
and recorded according to the Constitution ; we tell you that we 
may as well erase the yeas and nays on any other question or reso- 
lution, or on all questions and resolutions, as on this ; we tell you 
that you have just as much right to falsify the record, by so altering 
it as to make us appear to have voted on any question as we did 
not vote, as you have to erase a record, and make that page a 
blank, in which our votes, as they were actually given and record- 
ed, now stand. The one proceeding, as it appears to us, is as 
much a falsification of the record as the other. 

Having made this PROTEST, our duty is performed. We 
rescue our own names, character, and honor, from all participation 
in this matter ; and whatever the wayward character of the times, 
the headlong and plunging spirit of party devotion, or the fear or 
the love of power, may have been able to bring about elsewhere, 
we desire to thank God that they have not, as yet, overcome the 
love of liberty, fidelity to true republican principles, and a sacred 
reoard for the Constitution, in that State whose soil was drenched, 
to a mire, by the first and best blood of the Revolution. Massa- 
chusetts, as yet, has not been conquered ; and while we have the 
honor to hold seats here as her Senators, we shall never consent to 
a sacrifice either of her rights or our own ; we shall never fail to 
oppose what we regard as a plain and open violation of the Con- 
stitution of the country; and we should have thought ourselves 
wholly unworthy of her, if we had not, with all the solemnity and 
earnestness in our power, protested against the adoption of the 
resolution now before the Senate. 



REMARKS 



IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, ON PRESENTING A 
PETITION OF MERCHANTS OF NEW YORK, FOR THE ESTAB- 
LISHMENT OF A NATIONAL BANK. FEBRUARY 8, 1837. 

Mr. Webster addressed the Chair nearly as follows : — 

I KisE, Mr. President, for the purpose of presenting to the Senate 
a petition signed by fourteen or fifteen hundred mercantile houses 
in the city of New York, praying the estabhshment of a National 
Bank in that city. These petitioners, sir, set forth that, in their 
opinion, a National Bank is the only remedy, of a permanent char- 
acter, for the correction of the evils now affecting the currency of 
the country and the commercial exchanges. The petition is 
accompanied by a short communication from the committee raised 
for the purpose of preparing the petition, in which they state, what 
1 believe to be true, from some knowledge of my own, that the 
petition is subscribed without reference to political distinction; and 
they inform us, on the authority of their own observation and 
knowledge, that, in their opinion, on no subject did the mercantile 
community of New York ever address Congress with more entire 
unanimity than they now approach it, in favor of a National 
Bank. 

Mr. President, (said Mr. W.,) my own opinions on this subject 
have long been known ; and they remain now as they always have 
been. The constitutional power of Congress to create a bank is 
made more apparent by the acknowledged necessity which the 
Government is under to use some sort of banks as fiscal agents. 
The argument stated the other day by the member from Ohio, oppo- 
site to me, (Mr. Morris,) and which I have suggested often, here- 
tofore, appears to me unanswerable ; and that is, that, if the Gov- 
ernment has the power to use corporations in the fiscal concerns of 
the country, it must have the power to create such corporations. 
I have always thought that, when, by law, both Houses of Con- 
gress declared the use of State banks necessary to the administration 
of the revenue, every argument against the constitutional power of 
Congress to create a Bank of the United States was thereby sur- 

° 116 



117 

rendered; that it is plain that, if Congress has the power to adopt 
banks for the particular use of the Government, it has the power to 
create sucJi institutions also, if it deem that mode the best. No 
Government creates corporations for the mere purpose of giving 
capacity to an artificial body. It is the end designed, the use to 
which it is to be applied, that decides the question, in genera), 
whether the power exists to create such bodies. If such a corpora- 
tion as a bank be necessary to Government ; if its use be indispensa- 
ble, and if, on that ground, Congress may take into its service 
banks created by States, over which it has no control, and which 
are but poorly fitted for its purposes, how can it be maintained that 
Congress may not create a bank, by its own authority, responsible 
to itself, and well suited to promote the ends designed by it ? 

Mr. President, when the subject was last before the Senate, I 
expressed my own resolution not to make any movement towards 
the establishment of a National Bank, till public opinion should call 
for it. In that resolution I still remain. I3ut it gives me pleasure 
to have the opportunity of presenting this petition, out of respect to 
the signers ; and I have no objection certainly to meet with a proper 
opportunity of renewing the expression of my opinions on the sub- 
ject, although I know that so general has become the impression 
hostile to such an institution, that any movement here would be 
vain till iheit; is a change in public opinion. That there will be 
such a change I fully believe ; it will be brought about, I think, by 
experience, and sober reflection among the People ; and when it 
shall come, then will be the proper time for a movement on the 
subject in the public councils. Not only in New York, but from 
here to ]\Iaine, I believe it is now the opinion of five sixths of the 
whole mercantile community, that a national bank is indispensable 
to the steady regulation of the currency, and the facility and cheap- 
ness of exchanges. The board of trade at New York presented a 
memorial in favor of the same object some time ago. The Com- 
mittee on Finance reported against the prayer of the petitioners, as 
was to have been expected from the known sentiments of a majority 
of that committee. In presenting this petition now to the consid- 
eration of the Senate, I have done all that I purpose on this 
occasion, except to move that the petition be laid on the table and 
printed. 

Sir, on the subjects of currency and of the exchanges of com- 
merce, experience is likely to make us wiser than we now are. 
These highly interesting subjects — interesting to the property, the 
business, and the means of support of all classes — ought not to be 
connected with mere party questions and temporary politics. In 
the business and transactions of life, men need security, steadiness, 
and a permanent system. This is the very last field for the 



118 

exhibition of experiments, and I fervently hope that intelligent 
men, in and out of Congress, will cooperate in measures which 
may be reasonably expected to accomplish these desirable ob- 
jects — desirable and important alike to all classes and descriptions 
of people. 

The petition and accompanying letter were then ordered to be printed. 



RE3IARKS 



IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, FEBRUARY 20, ISSTT, IN 
RELATION TO THE MANUSCRIPT PAPERS OF MR. MADISON. 



The joint resolution for making an appropriation for the purchase of the man- 
uscript papers of the late President Madison, relative to the proceedings of the 
Convention who framed the Constitution of the United States, being under con- 
sideration, 

Mr. Webster said he supposed that there was no member of 
the Senate who regarded the sum proposed to be given for these 
manuscripts as too large, if the appropriation was within the just 
field of their constitutional powers. Now, what was the object of 
this appropriation ? The Senate sat under a Constitution which 
had now endured more than fifty years, and had been formed under 
very peculiar circumstances, under a great exigency, and in a man- 
ner that no Constitution had ever been formed in any other country, 
on principles of united and yet divided legislation, altogether unex- 
ampled in the history of free states. Mr. W. agreed fully in the 
sentiment that the constant rule of interpretation to be applied to 
this instrument was, that its restrictions were contained in itself, and 
that it was to be made, as far as possible, its own interpreter. He 
also agreed that the practice under the Government, for a long 
course of years, and the opinions of those who both formed the 
instrument, and afterward aided in carrying it into effect by laws 
passed under its authority, was to be the next ground of interpreta- 
tion ; and it seemed to him that the measure now proposed was of 
great importance, both in connection with the Constitution itself, 
and with the history of its interpretation. He should not now 
speak of the political opinions of Mv. IMadison. He looked only to 
the general facts of the case. It was well known that the Conven- 
tion of great men who formed our Constitution sat with closed doors ; 
that no report of their proceedings was published at that time ; and 
that their debates were listened to by none but themselves and the 
officers in attendance. We had, indeed, the official journal kept by 
their order. It was an important document, but it informed us only 
of their official acts. We got from it nothing whatever of the 
debates in that illustrious body. Besides this, there were only a 
few published sketches, more or less valuable. But the connection 

119 



120 

of Mr. Madison with the Conslitution and the Government, and his. 
profound knowledge of all that related to both, would necessarily 
give to any reports which he should have taken, a superior claim to 
accuracy. It was his purpose, when he entered the body, to report 
its whole proceedings. He chose a position which best enabled 
him to do so ; nor had he been absent a single day during the 
whole period of its sittings. It was further understood that his 
report of the leading speeches had been submitted to the members 
for correction. The fact was well known to them all that he was 
thus collecting materials for a detailed report of their proceedings. 
Without, therefore, having seen a page of these manuscripts, it was 
reasonable to conclude that they must contain matter not only 
highly interesting, but very useful ; and it was his impression that, 
among this class of cases, the Senate could not better consult the 
wishes and interests of the American People than to let them see a 
document of this character, from the pen of such a man as Madison. 
That gentleman had been more connected with the Constitution 
than almost any other individual. He had been present in that 
litde assemblage that met at Annapolis in '86, with whom the idea 
of the Convention originated. He was afterwards a member of the 
Convention of Virginia, which ratified the Constitution. He liad 
then been a member of the first Congress, and had taken an impor- 
tant lead in the great duties of its legislation, under that Constitu- 
tion, in the formation of which he had acted so conspicuous a part. 
He had afterwards filled the important station of Secretary of State, 
and had subsequently been for eight years President of the United 
States. Thus, his whole life had been intimately connected, first 
with the formation, and then with the administration of the Consti- 
tution. 

Mr. W. said that he saw no constitutional objection to the pur- 
chase of these manuscripts. Why did Congress purchase every 
year works on History, Geography, Botany, Metaphysics, and 
Morals? How was it that they had purchased a collection of 
works of the most miscellaneous character from Mr. Jefferson ? 
The manuscripts in question stood in a different relation. They 
related immediately and intimately to the nation's own affairs, and 
especially to the construction of that great instrument under which 
the Houses of Congress were now sitting. If the doctrine advanced 
by the Senator from South Carolina was to prevail, Congress ought 
forthwith to clear its library of every thing but the State papers. 
Mr. W.'s views on the Constitution were well known ; whether an 
inspection of these papers would confirm and strengthen the views 
he entertained respecting that instrument, he could not say ; but 
certainly, if they were now within his reach, he should be very 
eager to read them ; and their examination would be one of the 
very first things that he should engage in. A report of such de- 



121 

bates, from such a pen, could not but be of the highest importance, 
and its perusal was well calculated to gratify a rational curiosity. 
It might throw much light on the early interpretation of the Con- 
stitution, and on the nature and structure of our Government. But, 
while it produced this effect, it could do more than all other things 
to show to the People of the United States through what concilia- 
tion, through what a temper of compromise, through what a just 
yielding of the judgment of one individual to that of another, through 
what a spirit of manly and brotherly love, that assembly of illustri- 
ous men had been enabled finally to agree upon the form of a Con- 
stitution for their country, and had succeeded in conferring so great 
a good upon the American People. 



VOL. III. 16 






REMARKS 



IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES IN RELATION TO TTIE 
REDUCTION OF THE DUTY ON COAL. FEBRUARY 24, 1837. 

The bill to reduce the Tariff being under consideration, and Mr. Niles, of 
Connecticut, having moved to amend the bill as follows : — 

"That, from and after the thirtieth day of September, 1837, the duty on 
fossil coal, culm coal screenings, and coke, imported into the United States, 
shall be one dollar per ton of two thousand two hundred and forty pounds ; 
and that, after the thirtieth day of September, 1838, the duty shall be sixty 
cents per ton." 

Mr. Niles and Mr. Buchanan having spoken — ' 

Mr. Webster observed that it had been very truly stated that 
coal was, in this country, a necessary of life ; and an argument had 
thence been drawn which was capable of producing a very erroneous 
impression in the community, to wit, that the interest of the poor 
required the interposition of Congress to remove the duty now 
levied on its importation. Mr. W. said that, considering what had 
been the former course of Congress on this subject, it was as clear 
a proposition as could be stated, that tlie interest of the poor required 
the continuance of the tax. If he were not convinced of this, he 
certainly should not be in favor of retaining it. Whether we looked 
to the debates of the Convention, or to the earliest acts of the Fed- 
eral Government, we should perceive that it was admitted to be 
proper and necessary to levy a duty on imported coal. One of the 
very first articles enumerated in tlie first revenue law was foreign 
coal. The protection of the domestic article was warmly advocated, 
at that time, by the Virginia Delegation, as an obvious duty of the 
new Government ; for, although all duties had had revenue as their 
main object, yet, ever since 1824, many of them had been con- 
tinued for other purposes, and, among the rest, this duty on coal. 
Mr. W. had voted against retaining it ; but, from that time to this, 
the duty had retained its place in the law, on a presumed pledge 
of protection to such of our own citizens as were engaged in furnish- 
ing coal from the mines of our own country. A large amount of 
capital had been invested in machinery and wages, and also in the 

*^ 123 



123 

construction of canals and rail-roads leading from the mines towards 
places of deposit or shipment. An examination would show that 
the sum thus invested was not less than forty millions of dollars. 
What, then, was the proper course to be pursued with a view to 
bring down the price of coal ? American coal was not the only 
fuel of this kind in market. It stood alongside of the imported arti- 
cle, and there was a fair competition between them. Was there 
any thing so effectual in reducing the price as a fair and free 
competition ? Here the skill and industry of our own and of 
foreign nations competed for the market; and, if any thing was 
likely to reduce the price of this necessary of life, and thus to 
benefit the poor, it was this. That taking ofT the duty would 
reduce the price was perfect nonsense. The effect would be just 
the reverse. 

Mr. W. observed that it was this continual bringing forward of 
propositions to alter the most settled features of our policy, which 
was, in practice, so injurious to American industry and enterprise. 
In illustration of this remark, Mr. W. observed that it was not Ions: 
since a very curious debate had taken place in London, at a meet- 
ing of the creditors of the late Duke of York. Amono; other items 
of his property, was a great coal mine in Nova Scotia. Certain 
trustees of the estate had been directed to work it. The question 
with the creditors was, whether the working of this mine should 
still be prosecuted, or what should be done with it. On inquiring 
of the trustees, those gentlemen stated that the mine was now not 
very productive, but that the policy of the American Government, 
in relation to duties, was vacillating and uncertain ; that very soon 
the protecting duty on foreign coal would probably be taken off, and 
then they would have the entire American market. The proposi- 
tion of the honorable Senator from Connecticut was calculated to 
hasten this state of things, and to justify the calculation of these 
British trustees. So it seemed that the motion of the creditors of 
the Duke of York was to aid the poor of the United States ! The 
effect would be found directly the reverse. The repeal of the duty 
would be immediately followed by an increase of the price of the 
article. 

The speech of the honorable Senator seemed to proceed on the 
assumption that Pennsylvania alone was to be affected by the meas- 
ure proposed, but such was by no means the fact. It was very 
true that Pennsylvania was largely interested. She possessed 
extensive coal mines, and large amounts of capital had been invest- 
ed by her citizens in this branch of enterprise. But the mountains 
of Maryland were as rich in bituminous coal as those of Pennsylva- 
nia were in the anthracite. Why had the Government subscribed 
so largely to aid in the construction of the Chesapeake and Ohio 
Canal ? Was it not expressly with a view to reaching the exten- 



124 

sive coal beds near Cumberland ? That canal, when completed, 
would be possessed of great facilities, and, in some respects, would 
have the advantage over the canals of Pennsylvania, because it 
would not be frozen so early in the season. Congress had done 
this partly with a view to securing their own supply. It was said, 
indeed, that the freight on coal was very large, but every body 
knew that, while our exports were cumbrous, coal was brought back 
partly as ballast. Vessels which took out cargoes of cotton, brought 
coal as they brought salt, on their return voyage, and at very low 
rates, so there was no great protection to our own miners in that 
respect. 

Mr. W. said he objected to this breaking in upon a course of 
long-established and settled policy. This item of coal presented 
one of the clearest cases in the whole list of protected articles. It 
stood on as firm ground as woollens themselves, because the business 
of supplying it to the home market could not be carried on without 
great investment of capital. That investment had been actually 
made. The enterprise was in a course of successful operation, and 
the ultimate effect must be the supply of this important article of 
fuel at the cheapest practicable rate. The fears of mono[X)ly were 
groundless; the canals were open to all — so was the mountain 
property ; and it was abundant in Pennsylvania, in Virginia, and in 
the States on both sides of the great mountain range. And, if any 
reliance was to be placed on information received, the article could 
be furnished in abundance, with a reasonable profit, and at a cheap 
rate. Under these circumstances, would it be wise in Government 
to interfere? No complaint had been heard till within one season 
past ; and, because there was, at this time, a temporary pressure, 
was it worth while to raise the cry of the poor against the rich, and 
thus to destroy a branch of industry which was itself, and in its 
consequences, an invaluable boon to the poor ? Was this a long- 
sighted policy ? He thought not ; and it was evident the Commit- 
tee on Finance had thought not, for they had not inserted this item 
in the bill. Mr. VV. said this protecting duty on coal stood upon 
a just foundation ; it was subject to the gradual operation of the act 
of 1833, and ought not to be meddled with. This was no case in 
which the abuses of " regraters, forestallers," &c., called for the in- 
terposition of the law. The trade was free and open to all ; coal 
lands were cheap, and in market every where, but it required the 
outlay of some capital to turn them to account. If this perpetual 
cry against every thing which required capital, and this crusade 
against all who possessed it, was to be indulged, how could the 
internal improvement of the country ever go on? The nation, 
while surrounded by all manner of natural advantages, must sit 
down content to be poor. Was it not manifest, where few were 
very rich, that any thing which carried on the work of supply must 



125 

be accomplished by combination and the collection of capital ? If 
the Government were resolved not to leave the enterprises of our 
citizens to the effect of fair competition, but would perpetually in- 
terpose under the false notion of protecting the poor, great results 
could never be produced. The Pennsylvania canals had been de- 
cried as a monopoly. They were not a monopoly. Some of them 
belonged to the State, and, with a wise and liberal policy, she had 
thrown them open to all. Since the Government had, by its own 
acts, invited this investment, would they not consent to let well 
enough alone ? He was not willing to turn accidents, or mere tran- 
sient and temporary difficulties, into the grounds of continuous usage. 
He wished to see other avenues opened to the mountains as well as 
those of Pennsylvania. He held that the true interest of the com- 
munity in relation to this supply of coal, and in consideration of the 
present state of things, was to let those who had embarked in the 
business go on, till competition between them should, by its natural 
operation, bring down the price to its minimum. To that point it 
was fast hastening ; and when that had been reached, it would be 
time enough to consider whether any other and further legislation 
upon the subject was necessary. Mr. W. was opposed to the 
amendment. 

After some further remarks by Mr. Niles and Mr. Preston, 

Mr. Webster rose, and observed, that he should not have en- 
tered farther in the present debate if the member from Connecticut 
had not (as unfortunately he too often did) both misunderstood and 
misrepresented it. The member had represented him as saying the 
reverse of what he did say. That gentleman had quoted him as 
asserting that the poor had no interest in the reduction of the price 
of coal, whereas he had said exactly the reverse. The honorable 
member seemed to be in the habit of framing remarks for others, 
and then commenting upon them. Mr. W. had expressly declared 
that if he thought the interest of the poor would be promoted by 
reducing this tax, he would vote for its reduction, and that he was 
opposed to it only because he believed that the true interest of that 
class and of every other class in the community, required that the 
Government should keep its hands off from the subject entirely. 
Mr. W. had aijain and as-ain declared that he did not mean to advo- 
cate the cause of the rich in opposing this reduction, because he 
believed that keeping on the tax would eventually bring down the 
price of the article to the poor. The member did not meet this 
argument. He did not contradict it, but stalked around it while he 
talked about monopolies, and the influence of rich men on the 
legislation of Congress. Mr. W. did not doubt that the object at 
which the Senator meant to aim was to make coal cheap ; and did 



126 

ne not understand that this too was the ahn of Mr. W. ? And how 
then could he impute to him the design to protect the capitahst, in 
derogation of the laborer ? to advance wealth and disregard num- 
bers ? He hoped they should all in future endeavor to state each 
other's arguments with at least some degree of fairness. Coal was 
a necessary of life to all ; to the poor as well as to the rich. The 
object to be attained was to get it as cheap as possible. The exist- 
ing state of things had grown up under laws passed fifteen years 
ago, and the question was, whether, under that state of things, the 
proposition of the member from Connecticut would, in its practical 
result, lower the market price of this species of fuel. The member 
thought it would. Mr. W. thought otherwise, and had given rea- 
sons for this opinion, which he hoped were not altogether contempti- 
ble, and such as did not rightfully expose him to the charge of 
advocating the interests of wealth against labor. His argument 
had been briefly this: Here was a large capital actually invested in 
roads, canals, and machinery, the effect of which would, in a short 
time, make coal abundant, and thereby make it cheap ; while, in 
the meanwhile, the foreign supply was not wholly excluded, and 
enough would be imported by competition to keep down the price. 
The honorable member thought that Congress, by taking off" this 
tax, would give the exclusive power of keeping up the price to 
American producers. Mr. W. differed in opinion. He thought 
that, by taking off this tax, they would give that power to British 
producers, and make our citizens the victims of their extortions. 
Did not rich men as well as poor make use of coal as a fuel ? 
Was it not their interest to have fuel cheap as well as the interest 
of every body else? Ah, but the member was for the protection 
of labor. Very true. And Mr. W. insisted that the protective 
policy of the United States was aimed point black at the protection 
of labor. Did not the poor of our cities warm themselves over coal 
fires ? What glowing pictures, or rather what shivering pictures of 
suffering had been presented to the Senate in the eloquent descrip- 
tions (if he thought them eloquent) of the honorable gentleman 
from South Carolina ! But was not the laboring class in our cities 
the very first who received the protection of this Government? 
The first demand of a Constitution was for their protection. It had 
been the operatives spread along the Atlantic coast, whose voices 
broun-ht the Constitution into being. It was not the voices of Han- 
cock, of Adams, but of Paul Revere and his artisans which most 
efficiently advocated the movement for independence. It was the 
pouring in of a flood of foreign manufactures that gave the first im- 
pulse toward the adoption of a Constitution for our own protection; 
and had not the labor of our whole country been protected under it 
to this day ? Had not the laboring classes of the United States 
their life, and breath, and being under that instrument ? Take off 



127 

the protection which It extended to the hatters, and the shoemakers, 
and the whole class of mechanics who worked in leather, and see 
what would be the result. Go to the gentleman's own State, and 
take off the duty on tin ware, and he might possibly hear the tink- 
ling of that argument. Three cents on every coffee-pot ! What 
would the member say to that ? 

But it became enlightened legislators to take a different view of 

o o 

this subject. The true way to protect the poor was to protect their 
labor. Give them work to protect their earnings; that was the 
way to benefit the poor. Our artisans, he repeated it, were the 
first to be protected by the Constitution. The protection extended 
under our laws to capital was as nothing to that which was given 
to labor ; and so it should be. Since, in the year 1824, 1 stood 
upon this ground, I have retained the same position, and there I 
mean to stand. The free labor of the United States deserves to be 
protected, and so far as any efforts of mine can go, it shall be. 
The gentleman from Connecticut tells us that coal is a bounty of 
Providence ; that our mountains are full of it ; that we have only 
to take hold of what God has given us. Well. Sir, I am for protect- 
ing the man who does take hold of it ; who bores the rock ; who 
penetrates the mountain ; who excavates the mine, and by his assid- 
uous labor, put us into the practical possession of this bounty of 
Providence. It is not wealth while it lies in the mountain. It is 
human labor which brings it out and makes it wealth. I am for 
protect'mg that poor laborer whose brawny arms thus enrich the 
State. I am for providing him with cheap fuel, that he may warm 
himself and his wife and children. 

I observe that the very next item in the bill is one connected 
with the woollen factories in Connecticut. Will the honorable 
member go against all protecting principles ? Will he talk to us 
on that item as he has done on this ? Does not the poor man wear 
a cloth coat? Does he not want a great coat in cold weather? 
And is not that cloth taxed, and taxed for the benefit of Connecticut, 
and for the capitalists of Connecticut ? Is cloth no necessary of 
life ? Will the member draw us as fine a picture of the poor man 
shivering for want of a great coat of Connecticut cloth, as for want 
of a fire of Pennsylvania coal ? Sir, the man who catches hold of 
a little idea here and a little idea there, and holds these out to us to 
show that a great line of national policy is unjust, takes a view, in 
my apprehension, too little comprehensive. We must not tax the 
fuel with which the poor man warms himself, because it is a neces- 
sary of life; and pray what will the honorable member do with 
bread ? Is not that a necessary of life ? and will any man here rise 
in his place, and move to take off the duty on wheat ? Are not 
thousands of bushels imported from Europe ? Does not the poor 
man pay the tax on it ? And again I ask, will the honorable mem 



128 

ber bring in a bill to take off the duty on wheat ? There is a duty 
on brown sugar — will he move to repeal that? If he will compre- 
hend all the items included under the same principle of economy, 
it will show at least some consistency. But to select this article of 
coal, and have us make it free because it is a necessary of life, while 
he advocates a tax on other things equally necessary, is to act with 
no consistency at all. I know very well that many of the citizens 
of Boston have applied to have this tax diminished, and, if I thought 
it could with propriety be done, I would cheerfully do it. Some 
petitions, too, have been presented from one of our fishing towns ; 
but they ought to remember that all bounties on the fisheries, as well 
as this duty on coal, rest upon one great basis of mutual concession 
for the protection of labor, and for the benefit especially of the 
operative classes of society. And whoever says that this is a sys- 
tem which goes for capital against the poor, misrepresents its advo- 
cates, and perverts the whole matter, from A to Z. 

There are many other views which belong to the subject, but I 
will not now prosecute the argument. My object is to make coal 
cheap — permanently cheap: cheap to tiie poor man as well as the 
rich man : and to that end we shall arrive, if the laws are suffered 
to take their course. But to meddle with them, in the existing 
state of things, is the very worst thing that can be done either for 
poor or rich. 



SPEECH 



DELIVERED AT NIBLO'S SALOON, IN NEW YORK, ON THE 

15th march, 1837. 



The proceedings and correspondence which preceded tlie delivery of the 
speech are as follows : — 

At a meeting of the political friends of the Hon. Daniel Webster, held 
at Euterpian Hall, in the city of New York, on Tuesday evening, the 21st 
February, 1837, Jaraes Kent was called to the chair, and Hiram Ketchum 
and Gabriel P. Dissosway were appointed secretaries. 

The object of the meeting having been explained, the following resolu- 
tions were, on motion, duly seconded and unanimously adopted. 

Resolved, That this meeting has heard with deep concern of the intention 
of the Hon. Daniel Webster to resign his seat in the Senate of the United 
States at the close of the present session of Congress, or early in the next 
session. 

Resolved, That while we regret the resignation of Mr. Webster, it would 
be most unreasonable to censure the exercise of his right to seek repose, after 
fourteen years of unremitted, zealous, and highly-distinguished labors in the 
Congress of the United States ; but we indulge the hope that the nation 
will, at no distant day, again profit by his ripe experience as a statesman 
and his extensive knowledge of public affairs, by his wisdom in council and 
eloquence in debate. 

Resolved, That in the judgment of this meeting there is none among the 
living or the dead who has given to the country more just or able exposition 
of tlie Constitution of the United States ; none who has enforced, with more 
lucid and impassionate eloquence, the necessity and importance of the 
preservation of the Union, or exhibited more zeal or ability in defending the 
Constitution from the foes witliout the government, and foes within it, than 
Daniel Webster. 

Resolved, That there is no part of our widely-extended country more 
deeply interested in the preservation of the Union than the city of New- 
York ; her motto should be " Union and Liberty, now and forever, one and 
inseparable," and her gratitude should be shown to the statesman who first 
gave utterance to this sentiment. 

Resolved, That David B. Ogden, Peter Stagg, Jonathan Thompson, 
James Brown, Philip Hone, Samuel Stevens, Robert Smith, Joseph Tucker, 
VOL. III. 17 129 



130 

Peter Sharpe, Egbert Benson, Hugh Maxwell, Peter A. Jay, Aaron Clark, 
Ira B. Wheeler, William W. Todd, Seth Grosvenor, Simeon Draper, Jr., 
Wm. Aspinwall, Nathaniel Weed, Jonathan Goodhue, Caleb Bartow, Hiram 
Ketchum, Gabriel P. Dissosway, Henry K. Bogert, James Kent, Wm. S. 
Johnson, and John W. Leavitt, Esqrs., be a committee authorized and em- 
powered to receive the Hon. Daniel Webster on his return from Washington, 
and make known to him, in the form of an address or otherwise, the senti- 
ments which this meeting, in common with the friends of the Union and the 
Constitution in the city, entertain for the services which he has performed 
for the country ; that the committee correspond witli Mr. Webster, and as- 
certain the time when his arrival may be expected, and give public notice 
of the same, together with the order of proceedings which may be adopted 
under these resolutions. 

Resolved, Tliat these resolutions, signed by the Chairman and Secreta- 
ries, be published when the committee shall notify the public of the expected 

arrival of Mr. Webster. 

JAMES KENT, Chairman. 



Hiram Ketchum, ) Secretaries. 

Gabriel P. Dissosway, ^ 



New York, March 1, 1837. 

Sir — It having been currently reported that you have signified your in- 
tention to resign your seat in the Senate of the United States, a number of 
the friends of the Union and the Constitution in tliis city were convened on 
the evening of the 21st of last month, to devise measures whereby they 
might signify to you the sentiments which they, in common with all the 
Whigs in this city, entertain for the eminent services you have rendered to 
the country. At a meeting, the Hon. James Kent was called to the chair, 
and resolutions, a copy of wliich I enclose you, were adopted, not only with 
entire unanimity, but with a feeling of warm and hearty concurrence. On 
behalf of the committee appointed under one of these resolutions, I now 
have the honor to address you. It will be gratifying to the committee to 
learn from you at what time you expect to arrive in this city on your return 
to Massachusetts ; if informed of the time of your arrival, it will aiford the 
committee pleasure to meet you, and, in behalf of the Whigs of New York, 
to welcome you, and to present you, in a more extended form than the reso- 
lutions present, their views of your public services. I am instructed by the 
committee to say, that whether you shall choose to appear among us as a 
public man or a private citizen, you will be warmly greeted by every sound 
friend of that Constitution for which you have been so distinguished a 
champion. Should your resolution to resign your seat in the Senate be 
relinquished, you will, in the opinion of the committee, impose new obliga- 
tions upon the friends of the Union and the Constitution. 
I have the honor to be, very truly. 

Your obedient servant, 

D. B. OGDEN. 

Hon. Daniel Webster, Washington. 

Washington, March 4th, 1837. 
My dear Sir — I ha\ye the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your 
letter of the 2d instant, communicating the resolutions at a meeting of a 
number of political friends of New York. 



131 

The character of these resolutions, and the kindness of the sentiments 
expressed in your letter, have filled nie with unaffected gratitude. 

I feel, at the same time, how little deserving any political services of mine 
are of such commendation from such a source. To the discharge of the 
duties of my public situation, sometimes both anxious and difficult, I have 
devoted time and labor without reserve ; and have made sacrifices of per- 
sonal and private convenience not always unimportant. These, together 
■with integrity of purpose and fidelity, constitute, I am conscious, my only 
claim to the public regard ; and for all these I find myself richly compen- 
sated by proof's of approbation such as your communication affords. 

My desire to relinquisli my seat in tiie Senate for the two years stUl 
remaining of the term for which I was chosen, would have been carried into 
execution at the close of the present session of the Senate, had not circum- 
stances existed which, in the judgment of others, rendered it expedient to 
defer the fidfilment of that purpose for the present. 

It is my expectation to be in New York early in the week afler next; 
and it will give me pleasure to meet the political friends who have tendered 
me this kind and respectful attention in any manner most agreeable to them. 

I pray you to accept for yourself, and the other gentlemen of the com- 
mittee, my highest regard. 

DANIEL WEBSTER. 

To D. B. Ogdex, Esq., New York. 

At a meeting of the committee appointed under the above resolution, 
Philip Hone, Robert Smith, John W. Leavitt, Egbert Benson, Ira B. Wheeler, 
Caleb Bartow, Simeon Draper, Jr., and Wra. Samuel Johnson, Esqrs^ were 
appointed a sub-committee to make arrangements for the reception of Mr. 
Webster. The committee have corresponded with Mr. Webster, and £Lscer- 
tained that he will leave Philadelphia on the morning of Wednesday next 
— he will be met by the committee, and, on landing at Whitehall, at about 
2 o'clock on Wednesday afternoon, will thence be conducted by the com- 
mittee, accompanied by such other citizens as choose to join them, to a place 
hereafter to be designated. In the evening, at half past six o'clock, he will 
be addressed by the committee, in a public meeting of citizens, at Niblo's 
Saloon. 

D. B. OGDEN, Chairman. 

On the subsequent day, March 15th, the committee appointed for that 
purpose, met Mr. Webster at Amboy, and accompanied him to the city, 
where he was met, on landing, by a very numerous assemblage of citizens, 
who thronged to see the distinguished senator, and give him a warm wel- 
come ; after landing, he was attended by the committee and a numerous 
cavalcade through Broadway, crowded with the most respectable citizens, 
to lodgings provided for him at the American Hotel. Here he made a short 
address to the assembled citizens, and in the evening was accompanied by 
the committee to Niblo's Saloon. One of the largest meetings ever held 
in the city of New York assembled in the Saloon, and at half past six 
o'clock was called to order by Aaron Clark ; David B. Ogden was called 
to the chair as President of the meeting; Robert C. Cornell, Jonatlian 
Goodhue, Joseph Tucker, and Nathaniel Weed, were nominated Vice- 
Presidents ; and Joseph Hoxie and George S. Robbing, Secretaries. 

Afler the meeting was formed, Philip Hone introduced Mr. Webster with 



132 

a few appropriate remarks, and he was received with the most enthusiastic 
<rreetinc^s. Mr. Ogden then delivered to him the following address : — 

Id b 

« On behalf of a committee, appointed at a meeting of a number of your 
personal and political friends in this city, I have now the honor of address- 
ing you. 

"It has afforded the committee, and, I may add, all your political triends, 
unmingled pleasure to learn that you have, at least for the present, relin- 
quished the intention wliich I know you had formed of resigning your seat 
in the Senate of the United States. While expressing their feelings upon 
this change in your determination, the committee cannot avoid congratula- 
ting the country that your public services are not yet to be lost to it, and 
that the great champion of the Constitution and of the Union is still to con- 
tinue in the field, upon which he has earned so many laurels, and has so 
nobly asserted and defended the rights and liberties of the People. 

"The effort made by you, and tlie honorable men with wliom you have 
acted in the Senate, to resist executive encroachments upon the other de- 
partments of the government, will ever be remembered with gratitude by 
the friends of American liberty. That these efforts were not more success- 
ful, we shall long have reason to remember and regret. The administration 
of General Jackson is fortunately at an end. Its effects upon the Constitution 
and upon the commercial prosperity of the country are not at an end. Witli- 
out attempting to review the leading measures of his administration, every 
man engaged in business in New York feels, most sensibly, that his experi- 
ment upon the currency has produced the evils which you foretold it would 
produce. It has brought distress, to an extent never before experienced, 
upon the men of enterprise and of small capital, and has put all the primary 
power in the hands of a few great capitalists. 

" Upon the Senate our eyes and our hopes are fixed ; we know that you 
and your political friends are m a minority in that body, but we know that 
in that minority are to be found great talents, great experience, great pa- 
triotism, and we look for great and continued exertions to maintain the 
Constitution, the Union, and the liberties of this people. And we take tliis 
opportunity of expressing our entire confidence, that whatever men can do 
in a minority will be done in the Senate to relieve the country from the evils 
under which she is now laboring, and to save her from being sacrificed by 
folly, corruption, or usurpation. 

" It gives me, sir, pleasure to be the organ of the committee to express to 
you their great respect for your talents, their deep sense of the importance 
of your public services, and their gratification to learn that you will still 
continue in the Senate." 

To this address Mr. Webster replied in the following speech: — 

Mr. Chairman, and Fellow-Citizens : It would be idle in 
me to affect to be indifferent to the circumstances under whicli I 
have now the honor of addressing you. 

I find myself in the Commercial Metropolis of the Continent, in 
the midst of a vast assembly of intelligent men, drawn from all the 
classes, professions, and pursuits of life. 

And you have been pleased, Gentlemen, to meet me, in this 
imposing manner, and to offer me a warm and cordial welcome to 
your City. I thank you. I feel the full force and importance of 
this manifestation of your regard. In the highly-flattering resolu- 



133 

tions which invited me here, in the respectability of this vast 
multitLule of my Fellow-Citizens, and in the approbation and hearty 
good will, which you have here manifested, I feel cause for profound 
and grateful acknowledgment. 

To every individual of this meeting, therefore, I would now, most 
respectfully, make that acknowledgment; and with every one, as 
if with hands joined in mutual greeting, I reciprocate friendly salu- 
tation, respect, and good wishes. 

But, Gentlemen, although I am well assured of your personal 
regard, I cannot fail to know, that the times, the political and 
commercial condition of things which exists amongst us, and an 
intelligent spirit, awakened to new activity and a new degree of 
anxiety, have mainly contributed to fill these avenues and crowd 
these halls. At a moment of difticulty, and of much alarm, you 
come here as Whigs of New York, to meet one whom you suppose 
to be bound to you by common principles, and common sentiments, 
and pursuing, with you, a common object. Gentlemen, I am 
proud to admit this community of our principles, and this identity 
of our object. You are for the Constitution of the Country ; so am 
I. You are for the Union of the States ; so am I. You are for 
equal laws, for the equal rights of all men, for constitutional and 
just restraints on power, for the substance and not the shadowy 
image only of popular institutions, for a Government which has 
liberty for its spirit and soul, as well as in its forms ; and so am I. 
You feel that if, in warm party times, the Executive Power is in 
hands distinguished for boldness, for great success, for perseverance, 
and other qualities which strike men's minds strongly, there is 
danger of derangement of the Powers of Government, danger of 
a new division of those powers, in which the Executive is likely to 
obtain the Lion's part; and danger of a state of things in which 
the more popular branches of the Government, instead of being 
guards and sentinels, against any encroachments from the Execu- 
tive, seek, rather, support from its patronage, safety against the 
complaints of the People in its ample and all-protecting favor, and 
refuge in its power ; and so I feel, and so I have felt, for eight long 
and anxious years. 

You believe that a very efficient and powerful cause, in the pro- 
duction of the evils, which now fall on the industrious and commer- 
cial classes of the Community, is the derangement of the currency, 
the destruction of exchanges, and the unnatural and unnecessary 
misplacement of the specie of the country, by unauthorized and 
illegal Treasury orders. So do I believe. I predicted all this from 
the beginning, and from before the beginning. I predicted it all, 
last spring, when that was attempted to be done by law, which was 
afterwards done by Executive authority ; and from the moment of 
the exercise of that Executive authority, to the present time, I have 



134 

both foreseen, and seen, the regular progress of thhigs under It, from 
inconvenience and embarrassment, to pressure, loss of confidence, 
disorder, and bankruptcies. 

Gentlemen, I mean, on this occasion, to speak my sentiments 
freely, on the great topics of the day. I have nothing to conceal, 
and shall therefore conceal nothing. In regard to political senti- 
ments, purposes, or objects, there is nothing in my heart, which I 
am ashamed of; I shall throw it all open, therefore, to you, and to 
all men. [That is right, said some one in the crowd — let us have 
it — with no non-committal.] Yes, my friend (continued Mr. W.) 
without non-committal or evasion, without barren generalities or 
empty phrase, without if, or but, without a single touch, in all I 
say, bearing the oracular character of an Inaugural, I shall, on this 
occasion, speak my mind plainly, freely, and independently, to men 
who are just as free to concur, or not to concur, in my sentiments, 
as I am to utter them. I think you are entitled to hear my opinions 
fi-eely and frankly spoken ; but I freely acknowledge that you are 
still more clearly entitled to retain, and maintain, your own opin- 
ions, however they may differ, or agree with mine. 

It is true, Gentlemen, that I have contemplated the relinquish- 
ment of my seat in the Senate, for the residue of the term, now 
two years, for which I was chosen. This resolution was not taken 
from disgust, or discouragement, although some things have certainly 
happened which might excite both those feelings. But in popular 
Governments, men must not suffer themselves to be permanently 
disgusted, by occasional exhibitions of political harlequinism, or 
deeply discouraged, although their efforts to awaken the people to 
what they deem the dangerous tendency of public measures, be not 
crowned with immediate success. It was altogether from other 
causes, and other considerations, that after an uninterrupted service 
of fourteen or fifteen years, I naturally desired a respite. But those, 
whose opinions I am bound to respect, saw objections to a present 
withdrawal from Congress ; and I have yielded my own strong 
desire to their convictions of what the pubhc good requires. 

Gentlemen, in speaking here on the subjects which now so much 
interest the Community, I wish, in the outset, to disclaim all per- 
sonal disrespect towards individuals. He whose character and for- 
tune have exercised such a decisive influence on our politics for 
eight years, has now retired from public station. I pursue him with 
no personal reflections, no reproaches. Between him and myself, 
there has always existed a respectful personal intercourse. Mo- 
ments have existed, indeed, critical, and decisive upon the general 
success of his Administration, in which he has been pleased to re- 
gard my aid, as not altogether unimportant. I now speak of him, 
respectfully, as a distinguished soldier, as one, who, in that charac- 
ter, has done the State much service ; as a man, too, of strong and 



135 

decided character, of unsubdued resolution and perseverance. In 
whatever he undertakes. In speaking of his civil administration. 
I speak without censoriousness, or hai-sh imputation of motives ; I 
wish him health and happiness in his retirement ; but I must still 
speak as I think, of his public measures, and of tlieir general bear- 
ing and tendency, not only on the present interests of the country, 
but also on the well-being and security of the Government itself. 

There are, however, some topics of a less urgent present appli- 
cation and importance, upon which I w^ish to say ja few words, be- 
fore 1 advert to those, which are more immediately connected with 
the present distressed state of things. 

l\Iy learned and highly-valued friend, (]Mr. Ogden,) who has ad- 
dressed me in your behalf, has been kindly pleased to speak of my 
political career, as being marked by a freedom from local interests 
and prejudices, and a devotion to liberal and comprehensive views 
of public policy. 

I will not say that this compliment is deserved. I will only say, 
that I have earnestly endeavored to deserve it. Gentlemen, the 
General Government, to the extent of its povi^er, is national. It 
is not consolidated, it does not embrace all powers of government. 
On the contrary, it is delegated, restrained, strictly limited. 

But what powers it does possess, it possesses for the general, not 
for any partial or local good. It extends over a vast territory, em- 
bracing now-six and-twenty States, with interests various, but not 
irreconcilable, infinitely diversified, but capable of being all blended 
into political harmony. 

He, however, who would produce this harmony must survey the 
whole field, as if all parts were as interesting to himself, as they are 
to othei-s, and with that generous, patriotic feeling, prompter and 
better than the mere dictates of cool reason, which leads him to 
embrace the whole, with affectionate regard, as constituting, alto- 
gether, that object which he is so much bound to respect, to de- 
fend, and to love, — his Country. We have around us, and more 
or less within the influence and protection of the General Govern- 
ment, all the great interests of Agriculture, Navigation, Commerce, 
Manufactures, the Fisheries, and the Mechanic Arts. The duties 
of the Government, then, certainly extend over all this territory, 
and embrace all these vast interests. We have a maritime frontier, 
a sea-coast, of many thousand miles ; and while no one doubts that 
it is the duty of Government to defend this coast, by suitable mili- 
tary preparations, there are those who yet suppose that the powers 
of Government stop at this point ; and that as to works of peace, 
and works of improvement, they are beyond our Constitutional 
limits. I have ever thought otherwise. Congress has a right, J 
doubt, to declare war, and to raise armies and navies ; and it nas 
necessarily the right to build fortifications and batteries, to protect 



136 

the coast from the effects of war. But Congress has authority also, 
and it is its duty, to regulate Commerce, and it has the whole 
power of collecting duties on imports and tonnage. It must have 
ports ajid harhors, and dock-yards, also, for its navies. Very early 
in the history of the Government, it was decided by Congress, on 
the report of a highly-respectable committee, that the transfer by 
the States to Congress of the power of collecting tonnage and 
other duties, and the grant of the authority to regulate Commerce, 
charged Congress, necessarily, with the duty of maintaining such 
piers, and wharves, and light-houses, and of making such improve- 
ments, as might have been expected to be done by the States, if 
they had retained the usual means, by retaining the power of col- 
lecting duties on imports. The States, it was admitted, had parted 
with this power ; and the duty of protecting and facilitating Com- 
merce by these means, had passed, along with this power, into 
other hands. I have never hesitated, therefore, when the state of 
the Treasury would admit, to vote for reasonable appropriations, 
for Break-Waters, Light-Houses, Piers, Harbors, and similar im- 
provements on any part of the whole Atlantic Coast, or the Gulf 
of Mexico, from Maine to Louisiana. 

But how stands the inland frontier? How is it, along the vast 
Lakes, and the mighty Rivers of the North and West ? Do our 
Constitutional rights and duties terminate when the water ceases 
to be salt ? or do they exist, in full vigor, on the shores of these 
Inland Seas ? I never could doubt about this ; and yet. Gentle- 
men, I remember even to have participated in a warm debate, in 
the Senate, some years ago, upon the Constitutional right of Con- 
gress to make an appropriarion for a Pier, in the Harbor of Buffalo. 
What ! make a Harbor at Buffalo, where nature never made any, 
and where therefore it was never intended any ever should be made ? 
Take money from the People, to run out piers from the sandy shores 
of Lake Erie, or deepen the channels of her shallow Rivers ? 
Where was the Constitutional authority for this ? Where would 
such strides of power stop ? How long would the States have any 
power at all left, if their territory might be ruthlessly invaded for 
such unhallowed purposes, or how long would the People have any 
money in their pockets, if the Government of the United States 
might tax them, at pleasure, for such extravagant projects as these ? 
Piers, wharves, harbors, and break-waters in the Lakes ! These 
arguments, Gentlemen, however earnestly put forth, heretofore, do 
not strike us with great power, at the present day, if we stand on 
the shores of Lake Erie, and see hundreds of vessels, with valu- 
able cargoes, and thousands of valuable lives, moving on its wa- 
ters, with few shelters from the storm, but havens created, or made 
useful, by the aid of Government. These great Lakes, stretching 
away nxany tliousands of miles, not in a straight line, but with 



137 

turns and deflections, as If designed to reach, by water communica- 
tion, the greatest possible number of important points, through a 
region of vast extent, cannot but arrest the attention of any one, 
who looks upon the map. They lie connected, but variously placed ; 
and interspersed, as if with studied variety of fonn and direction, 
over that part of the country. They were made for man, and ad- 
mirably adapted for his use and convenience. Looking, Gentlemen, 
over our whole country, comprehending in our survey the Atlantic 
coast, with its thick population, advanced agriculture, its extended 
commerce, its manufactures and mechanic arts, its varieties of com- 
munication, its wealth, and its general improvements ; and looking, 
then, to the interior, to the immense tracts of fresh, fertile, and cheap 
lands, bounded by so many lakes, and watered by so many mag- 
nificent rivers, let me ask if such a map was ever before presented 
to the eye of any Statesman, as the theatre for the exercise of his 
wisdom and patriotism ? And let me ask, too, if any man is fit to 
act a part, on such a theatre, who does not comprehend the whole 
of it, within the scope of his policy, and embrace it all, as his 
country ? 

Again, Gentlemen, wc are one, in respect to the glorious Con- 
stitution under which we live. We are all united in the great 
brotherhood of American Liberty. Descending from the same 
ancestors, bred in the same school, taught, in infancy, to imbibe the 
same general political sentiments, Americans all, by birth, education, 
and principle, what but a narrow mind, or woful ignorance, or 
besotted selfishness, or prejudice, ten times ten times blinded, can 
lead any of us to regard the citizens of any part of the country 
as strangers and aliens ? 

The solemn truth, moreover, is before us, that a common political 
fate attends us all. 

Under the present Constitution, wisely and conscientiously ad- 
ministered, all are safe, happy, and renowned. The measure of 
our Country's fame may fill all our breasts. It is fame enough for 
us all to partake in her glory, if we will carry her character onward 
to its true destiny. But if the system is broken, its fragments must 
fall alike on all. Not only the cause of American Liberty, but the 
grand cause of Liberty throughout the whole earth, depends, in a 
great measure, on upholding the Constitution and Union of these 
States, If shattered and destroyed, no matter by what cause, the 
peculiar and cherished idea of United American Liberty will be no 
more forever. There may be free States, it is possible, when there 
shall be separate States. There may be many loose, and feeble, and 
hostile confederacies, where there is now one great and united Con- 
federacy. But the noble idea of United American Liberty, of our 
Liberty, such as our Fathers established it, will be extinguished 
forever. Fragments and severed columns of the edifice may be 

VOL. III. 18 L* 



138 

found remaining ; and melancholy and mournful ruins will they be ; 
the August Temple itself will be prostrate in the dust. Gendemen, 
the Cidzens of this Republic cannot sever their fortunes. A com- 
mon fate awaits us. In the honor of upholding, or in the disgrace 
of undermining the Constitution, we shall all necessarily partake. 
Let us dien stand by the Constitution, as it is, and by our Country, 
as it is, one, united, and entire ; let it be a truth engraven on our 
hearts ; let it be borne on the flag under which we rally, in every 
exigency, that we have one Country, one Constitution, one 
Destiny. 

Gentlemen, of our interior administration, the public lands con- 
stitute a highly-important part. This Is a subject of great interest, 
and It ought to attract much more attention than it has hitherto 
received, especially from the People of the Adantic States. The 
public lands are public property. They belong to the People of 
all the States. A vast portion of them is composed of territories, 
which were ceded, by individual States, to the United States, after 
the close of the Revolutionary War, and before the adoption of 
the present Constitution. The history of these sessions, and the 
reasons for making them, are familiar. Some of the Old Thirteen 
possessed large tracts of unsettled lands within their chartered limits. 
The Revolution had established their tide to these lands, and as the 
Revolution had been brought about by the common treasm'e and 
the common blood of all the Colonies, It was thought not unreason- 
able that these unsettled lands should be transferred to the United 
States, to pay the debt created by the War, and afterwards to 
remain as a fund for the use of all the States. This is the well- 
known origin of the title possessed by the United States to lands 
north-west of the River Ohio. 

By Treaties with France aud Spain, Louisiana and Florida, 
many millions of acres of public unsold land, have been since 
acquired. The cost of these acquisitions was paid, of course, by 
the General Government, and was thus a charge upon the whole 
people. The public lands, therefore, all and singular, are national 
property ; granted to the United States, purchased by the United 
States, paid for by all the People of the United States. 

The idea, that when a new State is created, the public lands 
lying within her Territory become the property of such new State 
in consequence of her sovereignty, is too preposterous for serious 
refutation. Such notions have heretofore been advanced in Con- 
gress, but nobody has sustained them. They were rejected and 
abandoned, although one cannot say whether they may not be 
revived in consequence of recent propositions, which have been 
made In the Senate. The new States are admitted on express 
conditions, recognizing, to the fullest extent, the right of the United 
States to the public lands within their borders ; and it is no more 



139 

reasonable to contend that some indefinite idea of State sovereignty 
overrides all these stipulations, and makes the lands the property 
of the States, against the provisions and conditions of their own 
Constitution, and the Constitution of the United States, than it 
would be, that a similar doctrine entitled the State of New York 
to the moneys collected at the Custom-House in this City ; since it 
is no more inconsistent with sovereignty that one Government 
should hold lands, for the purpose of sale, within the territory of 
another, than it is that it should lay and collect taxes and duties 
within such Territory. Whatever extravagant pretensions may 
have been set up, heretofore, there was not, 1 suppose, an enlight- 
ened man in the whole West, who insisted on any such right in 
the States, when the proposition to cede the lands to the States 
was made, in the late session of Congress. The public lands being, 
therefore, the common property of all the people of all the States, 
I shall never consent to give them away to particular States, or to 
dispose of them otherwise than for the general good, and the 
general use of the whole Country. 

I felt bound, therefore, on the occasion just alluded to, to resist, 
at the threshold, a proposition, to cede the pubhc lands to the 
States in which they lie on certain conditions. 

1 very much regretted the introduction of such a measure, as its 
effect must be, I fear, only to agitate what was well settled, and 
to disturb that course of proceeding in regard to the public lands, 
which forty years of experience have shown to be so wise, and so 
satisfactory in its operation, both to the People of the old States, 
and to those of the new. 

But, Gentlemen, although the public lands are not to be given 
away, or ceded to particular States, a very liberal policy in regard 
to them ought undoubtedly to prevail. Such a policy has prevailed, 
and I have steadily supported it, and shall continue to support it so 
long as I may remain in public life. The main object, in regard 
to these lands, is undoubtedly to settle them, so fast as the growth 
of our population, and its augmentation by emigration may enable 
us to settle them. 

The lands, therefore, should be sold, at a low price ; and, for one, 
I have never doubted the right or expediency of granting portions 
of the lands themselves, or of making grants of money, for objects 
of Internal improvements, connected with them. 

1 have always supported liberal appropriations for the purpose of 
opening communications, to and through these lands, by common 
Roads, Canals, and Rail Roads ; and where lands of little value 
have been long in market, and on account of their indifferent quality 
are not likely to command the common price, I know no objection 
to a reduction of price, as to such lands, so that they may pass 
into private ownership. Nor do I feel any objections, to remove 



140 

those restraints which prevent the States from taxing the lands, for 
five years after they are sold. But while in these and all other 
respects. I am not only reconciled to a liberal policy, but espouse it 
and support it, and have constantly done so, 1 hold, still, the national 
domain to be the general property of the Country, confided to the 
care of Congress, and which Congress is solemnly bound to protect 
and preserve, for the common good. 

The benefit derived from the public lands, after all, is, and must 
be, in the greatest degree, enjoyed by those who buy them and set- 
tle upon them. The original price paid to Government constitutes 
but a small pari of their actual value. Their immediate rise in value, 
in the hands of the settler, gives him competence. He exercises a 
power of selection, over a vast region of fertile territory, all on sale 
at the same price, and that price an exceedingly low one. Selec- 
tion is no sooner made, cultivation is no sooner beirun, and the first 
furrow turned, than he already finds himself a man of property. 
These are the advantages of western emigrants, and western settlers ; 
and they are such, certainly, as no country on earth ever before 
afforded to her Citizens. This opportunity of purchase and settle- 
ment, this certainty of enhanced value, these sure means of imme- 
diate competence and ultimate wealth, all these are the rights and 
the blessings of the people of the West, and they have my hearty 
wishes for their full and perfect enjoyment. 

I desire to see the public lands cultivated and occupied. I desire 
the growth and prosperity of the West, and the fullest develop- 
ment of its vast and extraordinary resources. I wish to bring it 
near to us, by every species of useful communication. I see, 
not without admiration and amazement, but yet without envy or 
jealousy. States of recent origin already containing more people 
than Massachusetts. These people I know to be part of ourselves ; 
they have proceeded from the midst of us, and we may trust that 
they are not likely to separate themselves, in interest or in feeling, 
from their kindred, whom they have left on the farms and around 
the hearths of their common fathers. 

A liberal policy, a sympathy with its interests, an enlightened 
and generous feeling of participation in its prosperity, are due to 
the West, and will be met, I doubt not, by a return of sentiments 
equally cordial and equally patriotic. 

Gentlemen, the general question of revenue is very much con- 
nected with this subject of the public lands, and 1 will therefore, in 
a very few words, express my opinions on that point. 

The revenue involves, not only the supply of the Treasury with 
money, but the question of protection to manufactures. On these 
connected subjects, therefore, gentlemen, as I have promised to keep 
nothing back, I will state my opinions plainly, but very shortly. 

I am in favor of such a revenue as shall be equal to all the just 



141 

and reasonable wants of the Government ; and I am decidedly 
opposed to all collection, or accumulation of revenue, beyond this 
point. An extravagant government expenditure and unnecessary 
accumulation in the Treasury, are both, of all things else, to be 
most studiously avoided. 

I am in favor of protecting American industry and labor, not 
only as employed in large manufactories, but also, and more 
especially, as employed in the various mechanic arts, carried on by 
persons acting on sn)ail capitals, and living by the earnings of their 
own personal Industry. Every City in the Union, and none more 
than this, would feel severely the consequences of departing from 
the ancient and continued policy of the Government, respecting 
this last, branch of protection. If duties were to be abolislied on 
hats, boots, shoes, and other articles of leather, and on the articles 
fabricated of brass, tin, and iron, and on ready-made clothes, 
carriages, furniture, and many similar articles, thousands of persons 
would be immediately thrown out of employment in this City, and 
in other parts of the Union. Protection, in this respect, of our own 
labor, against the cheaper, ill paid, half fed, and pauper labor of 
Europe, is, in my opinion, a duty, which the Country owes to its 
own citizens. I am, therefore, decidedly, for protecting our own 
industry, and our o\\n labor. 

In the next place. Gentlemen, I am of opinion that with no more 
than usual skill, in the application of the well-tried principles of 
discriminating and specific duties, all the branches of National In- 
dustry may be protected without imposing such duties on imports, 
as shall overcharge the Treasury. 

And as to the Revenues, arising from the sales of the public 
lands, I am of opinion that they ought to be set apart for the use 
of the States. The States need the money. The Government of 
the United Slates does not need it. Many of the States have con- 
tracted large debts, for objects of Internal improvement; and others 
of them have important objects, which they would wish to accom- 
plish. The lands were originally granted for the use of the several 
States ; and now that their proceeds are not necessary for the pur- 
poses of die General Government, I am of opinion that they should 
go to the States, and to the people of the States, upon an equal 
principle. Set apart, then, the proceeds of the public lands for the 
use of the States ; supply the Treasury from duties on imports ; 
apply to these duties a just and careful discrimination, in favor of 
articles jjroduced at home, by our own labor, and thus support, to 
a fair extent, our own Manufactures. These, Gendemen, appear 
to me to be the general outlines of that policy, which the present 
condition of the country requires us to adopt. 

Gentlemen, proposing to express opinions on the principal sub- 
jects of interest, at the present moment, it is impossible to overlook 



142 

the delicate question, which has arisen, from events which have 
happened in the late Mexican Province of Texas. The Independ- 
ence of that Province has now been recognized by the Govern- 
ment of the United States. The Congress gave the President the 
means, to be used when he saw fit, of opening a diplomatic inter- 
course with its Government, and the late President immediately 
made use of those means. 

I saw no objection, under the circumstances, to voting an ap- 
propriation to be used when the President should think the proper 
time had come ; and he deemed, certainly very promptly, that the 
time had already arrived. Certainly, Gentlemen, the history of 
Texas is not a litde wonderful. A very few people, in a very short 
time, have established a Government for themselves, against the 
authority of the parent State ; and which Government, it is gen- 
erally supposed, there is little probability, at the present moment, 
of the parent State being able to overturn. 

This Government is, in form, a copy of our own. It is an 
American Constitution, substantially after the great American model. 
We all, therefore, must wish it success ; and there is no one who 
will more heartily rejoice than I shall, to see an independent com- 
munity, intelligent, industrious, and friendly towards us, springing 
up, and rising into happiness, distinction, and power, upon our own 
principles of Liberty and Government. 

But it cannot be disguised. Gentlemen, that a desire, or an in- 
tention, is already manifested to annex Texas to the United States. 
On a subject of such mighty magnitude as this, and at a moment 
when the public attention is drawn to it, I should feel myself 
wanting in candor, if I did not express my opinion ; since all must 
suppose, that on such a question, it is impossible 1 should be with- 
out some opinion. 

I say then, Gentlemen, in all frankness, that I see objections, 
I think insurmountable objections, to the annexation of Texas to 
the United States. When the Constitution was formed, it is 
not probable that either its framers, or the people, ever looked to 
the admission of any States into the Union, except such as then 
already existed, and such as should be formed out of territories 
then already belonging to the United States. Fifteen years after 
the adoption of the Constitution, however, the case of Louisiana 
arose. Louisiana was obtained by Treaty with France ; who 
had recently obtained it from Spain ; but the object of this ac- 
quisition, certainly, was not mere extension of Territory. Otlier 
great political interests were connected with it. Spain, while 
she possessed Louisiana, had held the mouths of the great rivers 
which rise in the Western States, and flow into the Gulf of 
Mexico. She had disputed our use of these rivers, already, and 
with a powerful nation in possession of these outlets to the sea, 



143 

it IS obvious that the commerce of all the West was in danger of 
perpetual vexation. The command of these Rivers to the sea, 
was, tlierefore, the great object aimed at in the acquisition of 
Louisiana. But that acquisition necessarily brought Territory 
along with it, and three States now exist, formed out of that an- 
cient province. 

A similar policy, and a similar necessity, though perhaps not 
entirely so urgent, led to the acquisition of Florida. 

Now, no such necessity, no such policy, requires the annexation 
of Texas. The accession of Texas to our Territory, is not neces- 
sary to the full and complete enjoyment of all which we already 
possess. Her case therefore stands entirely different from that of 
Louisiana and Florida. There being then no necessity for extend- 
ing the limits of the Union, in that direction, we ought, I think, for 
numerous and powerful reasons, to be content with our present 
boundaries. 

Gentlemen, we all see, that by whomsoever possessed, Texas 
is likely to be a slave-holding country ; and I frankly avow my 
entire unwillingness to do any thing which shall extend the Sla- 
very of the African race, on this Continent, or add other slave- 
holding States to the Union. When I say that I regard slavery 
in itself as a great moral, social, and political evil, I only use 
language which has been adopted, by distinguished men, them- 
selves citizens of slave-holding States. I shall do nothing, there- 
fore, to favor or encourage its further extension. We have slavery, 
already, amongst us. The Constitution found it among us ; it 
recognized it, and gave it solemn guaranties. To the full extent 
of these guaranties we are all bound, in honor, in justice, and by 
the Constitution. All the stipulations, contained in the Consti- 
tution, in favor of the slave-holding States which are already in 
the Union, ought to be fulfilled, and so far as depends on me, 
shall be fulfilled, in the fulness of their spirit, and to the exactness 
of their letter. Slavery, as it exists in the States, is beyond the 
reach of Congress. It is a concern of the States themselves ; they 
have never submitted it to Congress, and Conoress has no rightful 
power over it. I shall concur therefore in no act, no measure, no 
menace, no indication of purpose, which shall interfere, or threaten 
to interfere, with the exclusive authority of the several States, 
over the subject of Slavery, as it exists within their respective 
limits. All this appears to me to he matter of plain and impera- 
tive duty. 

But when we come to speak of admitting new States, the sub- 
ject assumes an entirely different aspect. Our rights and our duties 
are then both different. 

The free States, and all the States, are then at liberty to accept, 
or to reject. When it is proposed to bring new members into 



144 

this political partnership, the old memhers have a right to say on 
what terms such new partners are to come in, and what they are 
to bring along with them. In my opinion the people of the United 
States will not consent to bring a new, vastly extensive, and slave- 
holdinw Country, large enough for half a dozen or a dozen States, 
into the Union. In my opinion they ought not to consent to it. 
Indeed I am altogether at a loss to conceive what possible benefit 
any part of this Country can expect to derive from such annexa- 
tion. All benefit, to any part, is at least doubtful and uncertain ; 
the objections obvious, plain, and strong. On the general question 
of Slavery, a great portion of the community is already strongly 
excited. The subject has not only attracted attention as a question 
of Politics, but it has struck a far deeper toned chord. It has arrest- 
ed the religious feeling of the Country ; it has taken strong hold on 
the consciences of men. He is a rash man, indeed, and little con- 
versant with human nature, and especially has he a very erroneous 
estimate of the character of the People of this Country, who sup- 
poses that a feeling of this kind is to be trifled with, or despised. 
It will assuredly cause itself to be respected. It may be reasoned 
with, it may be made willing, I believe it is entirely willing, to 
fulfil all existing engagements, and all existing duties, to uphold 
and defend the Constitution, as it is established, with whatever re- 
grets, about some provisions, which it does actually contain. But 
to coerce it into silence, — to endeavor to restrain hs free expres- 
sion, to seek to compress and confine it, warm as it is, and more 
heated as such endeavors would inevitably render it, — should all 
this be attempted, I know nothing, even in the Constitution, or in 
the Union itself, which would not be endangered by the explosion 
which might follow. 

I see, therefore, no political necessity for the annexation of Texas 
to the Union ; no advantages to be derived from it; and objections 
to it, of a strong, and in my judgment, decisive character. 

I believe it to be for the interest and happiness of the whole 
Union, to remain as it is, without diminution and without addition. 

Gentlemen, I pass to other subjects. The rapid advancement of 
the Executive authority is a topic which has already been allu- 
ded to. 

( I believe there is serious cause of danger, from this source. I 
believe the Power of the Executive has increased, is increasing, 
and ought now to be brought back within its ancient Constitutional 
limits. I have nothing to do with the motives, which have led to 
those acts, which I beheve to have transcended the boundaries of 
the Constitution. Good motives may always be assumed, as bad 
motives may always be imputed. Good intentions will always be 
pleaded, for every assumption of power ; but they cannot justify it, 
even if we were sure that they existed. It is hardly too strong to 



145 

say, that the Constitution was made to guard, the people against the 
dangers of good intention, real or pretended. ! When bad intentions 
are boldly avowed, the People will promptly take care of themselves. 
On the otlier hand, they will always be asked, why they should 
resist, or question, that exercise of power, which is so fair in its 
object, so plausible and patriotic in appearance, and which has the 
public good alone, confessedly in view? Human beings, we may 
be assured, will generally exercise power, when they can get it ; 
and they will exercise it most undoubtedly, in popular Governments, 
under pretences of public safety, or high public interest. It may be 
very possible, that good intentions do really sometimes exist, when 
Constitutional restraints are disregarded.) "i There are men, in all 
ages, who mean to exercise power usefully ; but who mean to 
exercise it. They mean to govern well ; but they mean to govern. 
They promise to be kind masters ; but they mean to be masters. 
They think there need be but little restraint upon themselves. 
Their notion of the public interest, is apt to be quite closely connect- 
ed with their own exercise of authority. They may not indeed 
always understand their own motives. The love of power may 
sink too deep in their hearts, even for their own scrutiny, and may 
pass, with themselves, for mere patriotism and benevolence. 

A character has been drawn of a very eminent citizen of Massa- 
chusetts, of the last age, which, though I think it does not entirely 
belong to him, yet very well describes a certain class of public men. 
It was said of this distinguished son of Massachusetts, that in mat- 
ters of politics and government he cherished the most kind and 
benevolent feelings towards the whole Earth. He earnestly desired 
to see all nations well governed ; and to bring about this happy 
result, he wished that the United States might govern the rest of 
the world ; that Massachusetts might govern the United States ; 
that Boston might govern Massachusetts ; and as for himself, his 
own humble ambition would be satisfied by governing the little town 
of Boston. 

I do not intend. Gentlemen, to commit so unreasonable a trespass 
on your patience, as to discuss all those cases, in which I think 
Executive power has been unreasonably extended. I shall only 
allude to some of them, and as being earliest in the order of time, 
and hardly second to any other in importance, I mention the prac- 
tice of removal from all offices, high and low, for opinion's sake, 
and on the avowed ground of giving patronage to the President ; 
that is to say, of giving him the power of influencing men's politi- 
cal opinions, and political conduct, by hopes, and by fears, addressed 
directly to their pecuniary interests. The great battle on this 
point, was fought, and was lost, in the Senate of the United States, 
in the last session of Congress, under Mr. Adams's administration. 
After General Jackson was known to be elected, and before his 
VOL. III. 19 M 



146 

term of office began, many important offices became vacant, by the 
usual causes of death and resignation. Mr. Adams, of course, 
nominated persons to fill these vacant offices. But a majority of 
the Senate was composed of the friends of General Jackson ; and 
instead of acting on these nominations, and filling the vacant 
offices, with ordinary promptitude, the nominations were postponed, 
to a day beyond the fourth of March, for the purpose, openly 
avowed, of giving the patronage of the appointments to the Presi- 
dent, who was then coming into office. And when the new Presi- 
dent entered on his office, he withdrew these nominations, and sent 
in nominations of his own friends in their places. I was of opinion 
then, and am of opinion now, that that decision of the Senate went 
far to unfix the proper balance of the Government. It conferred on 
the President the power of rewards for party purposes or personal 
purposes, without limit or control. Tt sanctioned, manifestly, and 
plainly, that exercise of power, which Mr. Madison had said would 
deserve impeachment ; and it completely defeated one great object, 
which we are told the framers of the Constitution contemplated, in 
the manner of forming the Senate ; that is, that the Senate might 
be a body, not changing with the election of a President, and 
therefore likely to be able to hold, over him, some check or restraint, 
in regard to bringing his own friends and partisans into power with 
him, and thus rewarding their services to him, at the public ex- 
pense. 

The debates in the Senate, on these questions, were long contin- 
ued and earnest. They were of course in secret session, but the 
opinions of those members, who opposed this course, have all been 
proved true by the result. The contest was severe and ardent, as 
much so as any that I have ever partaken in ; and I have seen some 
service, in that sort of warfare. 

Gentlemen, when I look back to that eventful moment, when I 
remember who those were, who upheld this claim, for Executive 
power, with so much zeal and devotion, as well as with such great 
and splendid abilities, and when 1 look round, now, and inquire 
what has become of these gentlemen, where they have found them- 
selves, at last, under the power which they thus helped to establish, 
what has become, now, of all their respect, trust, confidence, and 
attachment, how many of them, indeed, have not escaped from 
being broken and crushed, under the weight of the wheels of that 
engine which they themselves set in motion, I feel that an edifying 
lesson may be read, by those, who, in the freshness and fulness of 
party zeal, are ready to confer the most dangerous power in the hope 
that they, and their friends, may bask in its sunshine, while enemies 
only shall be withered by its frown. 

I will not go into the mention of names. I will give no enumer- 
ation of persons ; but I ask you to turn your minds back, and 



147 

recollect who the distinguished men were, who supported, in the 
Senate, General Jackson's administration for the two first years ; 
and I will ask you what you suppose they think, now, of that power, 
and tliat discretion, which they so freely confided to Executive 
hands? What do they think of the whole career of that adminis- 
tration, the commencement of which, and indeed the existence of 
which, owed so much to their own great exertions ? 

In addition to the establishment of this power of unlimited and 
causeless removal, another doctrine has been put forth, more vague, 
it is true, but altogether unconstitutional, and tending to like dan- 
gerous results. In some loose, indefinite, and unknown sense, the 
President has been called the Representative of the whole Ameri- 
can People. He has called himself so, repeatedly ; and been so 
denominated by his friends, a thousand times. Acts, for which no 
specific authority has been found, either in the Constitution or the 
laws, have been justified on the ground that the President is the 
Representative of the whole American People, Certainly, this is 
not constitutional language. Certainly, the Constitution no where 
calls the President the Universal Representative of the People. 
The Constitutional Representatives of the People are in the House 
of Representatives, exercising powers of legislation. The Presi- 
dent is an executive officer, appointed in a particular manner, and 
clothed with prescribed and limited powers. It may be thought to 
be of no great consequence, that the President should call himself, 
or that others should call him, the sole Representative of all the 
People, although he has no such appellation or character in the 
Constitution. But in these matters, words are things. If he is the 
People's Representative, and as such may exercise power, without 
any other grant, what is the limit to that power? And what may 
not an unlimited Representative of the people do ? 

When the Constitution expressly creates Representatives, as 
members of Congress, it regulates, defines, and limits their au- 
thority. 

But if the Executive Chief Magistrate, merely because he is the 
Executive Chief Magistrate, may assume to himself another char- 
acter, and call himself the Representative of the whole People, 
what is to limit or restrain this Representative power in his 
hands ? 

I fear, Gentlemen, that if these pretensions should be continued, 
and justified, we might have many instances of summary political 
logic, such as I once heard in the House of Representatives. A 
gentleman, not now living, wished very much to vote for the estab- 
lishment of a Bank of the United States. But he had always 
stoutly denied the constitutional power of Congress to create such 
a Bank. The Country, however, was in a state of great financial 
distress, from which such an Institution, it was hoped, might help 



148 

to extricate it ; and this consideration led the worthy member to 
review his opinions with care and dehberation. Happily, on such 
careful and deliberate review, he altered his former judgment. He 
came, satisfactorily, to the conclusion that Congress might incorpo- 
rate a Bank. The argument which brought his mind to this result 
was short, and so plain and obvious, that he wondered how he should 
so long have overlooked it. The power, he said, to create a Bank, 
was either given to Congress, or it was not given. Very well. If 
it was given. Congress of course could exercise it ; if it was not 
given, the People still retained it, and in that case, Congress, as the 
Representatives of the People, might, upon an emergency, make 
free to use it. 

Arguments and conclusions in substance like these, Gentlemen, 
will not be wanting, if men of great popularity, commanding charac- 
ters, sustained by powerful parties, and full of good intentions 
toivards the public, may be permitted to call themselves the Uni- 
versal Representatives of the People. 

But, Gentlemen, it is the currency, the currency of the Coun- 
try, — it is this great subject, so interesting, so vital, to all classes 
of the community, which has been destined to feel the most violent 
assaults of Executive Power. The consequences are around us, 
and upon us. Not unforeseen, not unforetold, here they come, 
bringing distress for the present, and fear and alarm for the future. 
If it be denied, that the present condition of things has arisen from 
the President's interference with the Revenue, the first answer is, 
that when he did interfere, just such consequences were predicted. 
It was then said, and repeated, and pressed upon the public atten- 
tion, that that interference must necessarily produce derangement, 
embarrassment, loss of confidence, and commercial distress. I pray 
you. Gentlemen, to recur to the debates of 1832, 1833, and 1834, 
and then to decide whose opinions have proved to be correct. 
When the Treasury Experiment was first announced, who support- 
ed, and who opposed it ? Who warned the Country against it ? 
Who were they who endeavored to stay the violence of party, to 
arrest the hand of Executive authority, and to convince the People, 
that this Experiment was delusive ; that its object was merely to 
increase Executive Power, and that its effect, sooner or later, must 
be injurious and ruinous ? 

Gentlemen, it is fair to bring the opinions of political men to the 
test of experience. It is just to judge of them by their measures, 
and their opposition to measures ; and for myself, and those polit- 
ical friends with whom I have acted, on this subject of the currency, 
I am ready to abide the test. 

But before the subject of the currency, and its present most 
embarrassing state, is discussed, I invite your attention. Gentle- 
men, to the history of Executive proceedings, connected with it. 



149 

I propose to state to you a series of facts ; not to argue upon them, 
not to mystify them, not to draw any unjust inference from them ; 
but merely to state the case, in the plainest manner, as I under- 
stand it. And I wish. Gentlemen, that in order to be able to do 
this, in the best and most convincing manner, I had the ability of 
my learned friend, (Mr. Ogden,) whom you have all so often 
heard, and who states his case, usually, in such a manner, that 
when stated, it is already very well argued. 

Let us see, Gentlemen, what the train of occurrences has been, 
in regard to our revenue and finances ; and when these occur- 
rences are stated, 1 leave to every man the right to decide for him- 
self, whether our present difficulties have, or have not, arisen 
from attempts to extend the Executive authority. In giving this 
detail, J shall be compelled to speak of the late Bank of the United 
States ; but I shall speak of it historically only. My opinion of its 
utility, and of the extraordinary ability and success, with which 
its affairs were conducted, for many years before the termination 
of its charter, is well known. I have often expressed it, and I 
have not altered it. But at present I speak of the Bank, only as 
it makes a necessary part in the history of events, which I wish 
now to recapitulate. 

Mr. Adams commenced his administration in March, 1825. He 
had been elected by the House of Representatives, and began his 
career, as President, under a strong and powerful opposition. 
From the very first day, he was warmly, even violently opposed 
in all his measures ; and this opposition, as we all know, continued 
without abatement, either in force or asperity, through his whole 
term of four years. Gentlemen, I am not about to say whether 
this opposition was well or ill founded, just or unjust. I only state 
the fact, as connected with other facts. The Bank of the United 
States, during these four years of Mr. Adams's administration, was 
in full operation. It was performing the fiscal duties, enjoined on 
it by its charter ; it had established numerous offices — was main- 
taining a large circulation, and transacting a vast business in Ex- 
change. Its character, conduct, and manner of administration, 
were all well known to the whole country. 

Now there are two or three things worthy of especial notice. 
One is, that during the whole of this heated political controversy, 
from 1825 to 1829, the Party which was endeavoring to produce 
a change of administration, brought no charge of political interfer- 
ence against the Bank of the United States. If any thing, it was 
rather a favorite with the party generally. Certainly, the party, 
as a party, did not ascribe to it undue attachment to other parties, 
or to the then existing achninistration. 

Another important fact is, that during the whole of the same 
period, those who had espoused the cause of General Jackson, and 



150 

who sought to brino; about a revolution under his name, did not 
propose the destruction of the Bank, or its discontinuance, as one 
of the objects, which were to be accomplished by the intended 
revolution. They did not tell the country that the Bank was un- 
constitutional ; they did not declare it unnecessary ; they did not 
propose to get along without it, when they should come into power 
themselves. If individuals entertained any such purposes, they 
kept them much to themselves. The party, as a party, avowed 
none such. A third fact, worthy of all notice, is, that during this 
period, there was no complaint about the state of the currency, 
either by the Country, generally, or by the party then in opposition. 

In March, 1829, General Jackson was inaugurated. He came in 
on professions of Reform. He announced reform of all abuses to 
be the great and leading object of his future administration ; and 
in his inaugural address he pointed out the main subjects of this 
reform. But the Bank was not one of them. It was not said the 
Bank was unconstitutional. It was not said it was unnecessary or 
useless. It was not said that it had failed to do all that had been 
hoped or expected from it, in regard to the currency. 

In March, 1829, then, the Bank stood well, very well, with the 
new administration. It was regarded, so far as appears, as entirely 
constitutional, free from political or party taint, and highly useful. 
It had, as yet, found no place in the catalogue of abuses to be 
reformed. 

But, Gentlemen, nine months wrought a wonderful change. 
New lights broke forth, before these months had rolled away ; and 
the President, in his message to Congress, in December, 1829, held 
very different language, and manifested very different purposes. 

Although the Bank had then five or six years of its charter un- 
expired, he yet called the attention of Congress, very pointedly, 
to the subject, and declared — 

1. That the constitutionality of the Bank was well doubted by 
many ; 

2. That its utility or expediency was also well doubted ; 

3. That all must admit that it had failed in undertaking to es- 
tablish or maintain a sound and uniform currency ; and, 

4. That the true Bank for the use of the Government of the 
United States, would be a Bank, which should be founded on the 
revenues and credit of the Government itself. 

These propositions appeared to me, at the time, as very extra- 
ordinary, and the last one as very startling. A Bank, founded on 
the revenue and credit of the Government, and managed and ad- 
ministered by the Executive, was a conception, which I had sup- 
posed no man, holding the Chief Executive Power in his own 
hands, would venture to put forth. 

But the question now is, what had wrought this great change 



151 

of feeling and of purpose in regard to the Bank. What events 
had occurred, between March and December, that should have 
caused the Bank, so constitutional, so useful, so peaceable, and so 
safe an institution, in the first of these months, to start up into the 
character of a monster, and become so horrid and dangerous, in the 
last ? 

Gentlemen, let us see what the events were, which had inter- 
vened. 

General Jackson was elected in December, 1828. His term was 
to begin in March, 1829. A session of Congress took place, there- 
fore, between his election and the commencement of his admin- 
istration. 

Now, Gentlemen, the tmth is, that during this session, and a 
little before the commencement of the new administration, a dis- 
position was manifested by political men to interfere with the man- 
agement of the Bank. Members of Congress undertook to nom- 
inate or recommend individuals as Directors in the Branches, or 
offices, of the Bank. They were kind enough, sometimes, to make 
out whole lists, or tickets, and to send them to Philadelphia, con- 
taining the names of those whose appointments would be satisfactory 
to General Jackson's friends. Portions of the correspondence, on 
these subjects, have been published in some of the voluminous reports 
and other documents, connected with the Bank, but perhaps have 
not been generally heeded or noticed. At first, the Bank merely 
declined, as gently as possible, complying with these and similar 
requests. But like applications began to show themselves from 
many quarters, and a very marked case arose as early as June, 
1829. Certain members of the Legislature of New Hampshire 
applied for a change in the Presidency of the Branch, which was 
established in that State. A member of the Senate of the United 
States, wrote, both to the President of the Bank, and to the 
Secretary of the Treasury, strongly recommending a change, and, 
in his letter to the Secretary, hinting very distinctly at political 
considerations, as the ground of the movement. Other officers in 
the service of the Government took an interest in the matter, and 
urged a change ; and the Secretary himself wrote to the Bank, 
suggestino; and recommending it. The time had come, then, for 
the Bank to take its position. It did take it ; and, in my judgment, 
if it had not acted as it did act, not only would those who had the 
care of it, been most highly censurable, but a claim would have 
been yielded to, entirely inconsistent with a government of laws, 
and subversive of the very foundations of Republicanism. 

A long correspondence between the Secretary of the Treasury 
and the President of the Bank ensued. The Directors determined 
that they would not surrender either their rights or their duties to 
the control or supervision of the Executive Government. They 



152 

said they liad never appointed Directors of their Branches on 
political grounds, and they would not remove them on such grounds. 
They had avoided politics. They had sought for men of business, 
capacity, fidelity, and experience in the management of pecuniary 
concerns. They owed duties, they said, to the Government, which 
they meant to perform, faithfully and impartially, under all ad- 
ministrations ; and they owed duties to the stockholders of the 
Bank, which required them to disregard political considerations in 
their appointments. This correspondence ran along into the fall 
of the year, and finally terminated in a stern and unanimous 
declaration, made by the Directors, and transmitted to the Secretary 
of die Treasury, that the Bank would continue to be independently- 
administered, and that the Directors, once forall, refused to submit 
to the supervision of the Executive authority, in any of its branches, 
in the appointment of local directors and agents. This resolution 
decided the character of the future. Hostility towards the Bank, 
thenceforward, became the settled policy of the Government ; and 
the message of December, 1829, was the clear announcement of 
that policy. If the Bank had appointed those Directors, thus 
recommended by members of Congress ; if it had submitted all its 
appointments to the supervision of the Treasury ; if it had removed 
the President of the New Hampshire Branch ; if it had, in all 
things, showed itself a complying, political, party machine, instead 
of an independent institution ; — if it had done this, I leave all men 
to judge whether such an endre change of opinion, as to its con- 
stitutionality, its utility, and its good effects on the currency, would 
have happened between March and December. 

From die moment in which the Bank asserted its independence 
of Treasury control, and its elevation above mere party purposes, 
down to the end of its charter, and down even to the present day, 
it has been the subject, to which the selectest phrases of party de- 
nunciation have been plentifully applied. 

But Congress manifested no disposition to establish a Treasury 
Bank. On the contrary, it was satisfied, and so was the country, 
most unquestionably, with the Bank then existing. In the sum- 
mer of 1832, Congress passed an act for continuing the charter of 
the Bank, by strong majorities in both Houses. In the House 
of Representatives, l think, two thirds of the members voted for 
the Bill. The President gave it his negative ; and as there were 
not two Uiirds of the Senate, though a large majority were for it, 
the Bill failed to become a law. 

But it was not enough that a continuance of the charter of the 
Bank was thus refused. It had the Deposit of the public money, 
and this it was entitled to by law, for the few years which yet re- 
mained of its chartered term. But this it was determined it should 
not enjoy. At the commencement of the session of 1832-3, a 



153 

grave and sober doubt was expressed by the Secretary of the 
Treasury, in his official communication, whether the public moneys 
were safe in tlie custody of tlie Bank ! I confess, Gentlemen, 
when I look back to this suggestion, thus officially made, so serious 
in its import, so unjust, if not well founded, and so greatly injurious 
to the credit of the Bank, and injurious, indeed, to the credit of the 
whole country, I cannot but wonder that any man of intelligence 
and character should have been willing to make it. I read in it, 
iiowever, the first lines of another chapter. I saw an attempt was 
now to be made to remove the Deposits, and such an attempt was 
made that very session. But Congress was not to be prevailed 
upon to accomplish the end by its own authority. It was well 
ascertained that neither House would consent to it. The House 
of Representatives, indeed, at the heel of the session, decided 
against the proposition by a very large majority. 

The Legislative authority having been thus invoked, and in- 
voked in vain, it was resolved to stretch farther the long arm of 
Executive power, and b)^ that arm to reach and strike the victim. 
It so happened that I was in this city in May, 1833, and here 
learned, from a very authentic source, that the Deposits would 
be removed by the President's order ; and in June, as afterwards 
appeared, that order was given. 

Now it is obvious. Gentlemen, that thus far the changes in our 
financial and fiscal system were effected, not by Congress, but by 
the Executive ; not by law, but by the will and the power of the 
President. Congress would have continued the charter of the 
Bank ; but the President negatived the Bill. Congress was of 
opinion that the Deposits ought not to be removed ; but the 
President removed them. Nor was this all. The public moneys 
being withdrawn from the custody which the law had provided, 
by Executive power alone, that same power selected the places 
for their future keeping. Particular Banks, existing under State 
charters, were chosen. With these, especial and particular arrange- 
ments were made, and the public moneys were deposited in their 
vaults. Henceforward these selected Banks were to operate on 
the revenue and credit of the Government ; and thus the original 
scheme, promulgated in the Annual Message of December, 1829, 
was substantially carried into effect. Here were Banks chosen by 
the Treasury ; all the arrangements made with them, made by the 
Treasury ; a set of duties prescribed to be performed by them to 
the Treasury ; and these Banks were to hold the whole proceeds 
of the public revenue. In all this Congress had neither part nor 
lot. No law had caused the removal of the Deposits ; no law 
had authorized the selection of Deposit State Banks ; no law had 
prescribed the terms, on which the revenues should be placed in 
such Banks. From the beginning of the chapter to the end, it was 
VOL. III. 20 



154 

all Executive Edict. And, now, Gentlemen, I ask if it be not 
most remarkable, ibat in a country professing to be under a Gov- 
ernment of laws, such great and important changes in one of its 
most essential and vital interests, should be brought about without 
any change of law, without any enactment of the Legislature what- 
ever? Is such a power trusted to the Executive of any Govern- 
ment, in which the Executive is separated, by clear and well-defined 
lines, from the Legislative Department ? The currency of tlie 
country stands on the same general ground as the commerce of the 
country. Both are intimately connected, and both are subjects of 
legal, not of Executive, regulation. 

It is worthy of notice, that the writers of the Federalist, in 
discussing the powers which the Constitution conferred on the 
President, made it matter of commendation, that it withdraws this 
subject altogether from his grasp. " He can prescribe no rules,"' 
say they, "concerning the commerce or currency of the country." 
And so we have been all taught to think, under all former adminis- 
trations. But we have now seen, that the President, and the Pres- 
ident alone, does prescribe the rule concerning the currency. He 
makes it, and he alters it. He makes one rule for one branch of 
the revenue, and another rule for another. He makes one rule for 
the citizen of one State, and another for the citizen of another 
State. This, it is certain, is one part of the Treasury order of 
July last. 

But at last Congress interfered, and undertook to regulate the 
Deposits of the public moneys. It passed the law of July, 1836, 
placing the subject under legal control, restraining the power 
of the Executive, subjecting the Banks to liabilities and duties, on 
the one hand, and securino; them against Executive favoritism on the 
other. But this law contained another important provision ; which 
was, that all the money in the Treasury, beyond what was necessa- 
ry for the current expenditures of the Government, should be 
deposited with the States. This measure passed both Houses hy 
very unusual majorities, yet it hardly escaped a veto. It obtained 
only a cold assent, a slow, reluctant and hesitating approval ; and 
an early moment was seized to array against it a long list of objec- 
tions. But the law passed. The money in the Treasury, beyond 
the sum of five millions, was to go to the States ; it has so gone, 
and the Treasury for the present is relieved from the burden of a 
surplus. But now observe other coincidences. In the Annual 
Message of December, 1835, the President quoted the fact of the 
rapidly-increasing sale of the Public Lands as proof of high national 
prosperity. He alluded to that subject, certainly with much satis- 
faction, and apparently in something of the tone of exultation. 
There was nothing said about monopoly, not a word about specula- 
tion, not a word about over-issues of paper, to pay for the lands. 



155 

All was prosperous, all was full of evidence of a wise administration 
of Government, all was joy and. triumph. 

But the idea of a deposit or distribution of the surplus money 
with the people, suddenly damped this effervescing happiness. 
The color of the rose was gone, and every thing now looked 
gloomy and black. Now no more felicitation or congratulation, 
on account of the rapid sales of the Public Lands ; no more of 
this most decisive proof of national prosperity and happiness. The 
Executive muse takes up a melancholy strain. She sings of mo- 
nopolies, of speculation, of worthless paper, of loss both of land 
and money, of the multiplication of Banks, and the danger of paper 
issues ; and the end of the canto, the catastrophe, is that lands 
shall no longer be sold but for gold and silver alone. The object 
of all this is clear enough. It was to diminish the income from the 
public lands. But no desire for such a diminution had been mani- 
fested, so long as the money was supposed to be likely to remain 
in the Treasury. But a growing conviction that some other dispo- 
sition must be made of the surplus, awakened attention to the 
means of preventing that surplus. 

Toward the end of the last session. Gentlemen, a proposition 
was brought forward in Congress for such an alteration of the law, 
as should admit payment for Public Lands to be made in nothing 
but gold and silver. The mover voted for his own proposition ; 
but 1 do not recollect that any other member concurred in the vote. 
The proposition was rejected at once ; but, as in other cases, that 
which Congress refused to do, the Executive power did. Ten days 
after Congress adjourned, having had this matter before it, and hav- 
ing refused to act upon it, by making any alteration in the existing 
laws, a Treasury order was issued, commanding that very thing to 
be done, which Congress had been requested to do, and had refused 
to do. Just as in the case of the removal of the Deposits, the 
Executive power acted, in this case also, against the known, well 
understood, and recently expressed will of the Representatives of 
the People. There never has been a moment when the Legislative 
will would have sanctioned the object of that order. Probably 
never a moment in which any twenty individual members of Con- 
gress would have concurred in it. The act was done, without the 
assent of Congress, and against the well-known opinion of Congress. 
That act altered the law of the land, or purported to alter it, against 
the well-known will of the law-making power. 

For one, I confess, I see no authority whatever in the Constitu- 
tion, or in any law, for this Treasury order. Those who have 
undertaken to maintain it, have placed it on grounds not only dif- 
ferent, but inconsistent and contradictory. The reason which one 
gives, another rejects ; one confutes what another argues. With 
one it is the joint resolution of 1816 which gave the authority ; 



156 

with another it is the law of 1820 ; with a third it is the general 
superintending power of the President ; and this last argument, since 
it resolves itself into mere power, without stopping to point out the 
sources of that power, is not only the shortest, but in truth the most 
just. He is the most sensible, as well as the most candid reasoner, 
in my opinion, who places this Treasury order on the ground of the 
pleasure of the Executive, and stops there. I regard the joint 
Resolution of 1816 as mandatory; as prescribing a legal rule; as 
putting this subject, in which all have so deep an interest, beyond 
the caprice, or the arbitrary pleasure, or the discretion of the Sec- 
retary of the Treasury. I believe there is not the slightest legal 
authority, either in that officer, or in the President, to make a distinc- 
tion, and to say that paper may be received for debts at the Cus- 
tom House, but that gold and silver only shall be received at the 
Land Offices. And now for the sequel. 

At the commencement of the last session, as you know, Gen- 
tlemen, a Resolution was brought forward in the Senate, for an- 
nulling and abrogating this order, by Mr. Ewing, a gentleman of 
much intelligence, of sound principles, of vigorous and energetic 
character, whose loss from the service of the country, I regard as a 
public misfortune. The Whig members all supported this Res- 
olution, and all the members, I believe, with the exception of some 
five or six, were very anxious, in some way, to get rid of the 
Treasury order. But Mr. Ewing's Resolution was too direct. It 
was deemed a pointed and ungracious attack on Executive policy. 
Therefore it must be softened, modified, qualified, made to sound less 
harsh to the ears of men in power, and to assume a plausible, polished, 
inoffensive character. It was accordingly put into the plastic hands 
of friends of the Executive to be moulded and fashioned, so that it 
might have the effect of ridding the countiy of the obnoxious order, 
and yet not appear to question Executive infallibility. All this did 
not answer. The late President is not a man to be satisfied with 
soft words ; and he saw in the measure, even as it passed the two 
Houses, a substantial repeal of the order. He is a man of boldness 
and decision ; and he respects boldness and decision in others. If 
you are his friend, he expects no flinching ; and if you are his ad- 
versary, he respects you none the less, for carrying your opposition 
to the full limits of honorable warfare. Gentlemen, 1 most sincerely 
regret the course of the President, in regard to this bill, and cer- 
tainly most highly disapprove it. But I do not suffer the mortifica- 
tion of having attempted to disguise and garnish it, in order to make 
it acceptable, and of still finding it thrown back in my face. All 
that was obtained by this ingenious, diplomatic, and over-courteous 
mode of enacting a law, was a response from the President and the 
Attorney General, that the Bill in question was obscure, ill-penned, 
and not easy to be understood. The Bill therefore was neither 



157 

approved, nor negatived. If it had been approved, the Treasury 
order would have been annulled, though in a clumsy and objection- 
able manner. If it had been negatived, and returned to Congress, 
no doubt it would have been passed by two thirds of both Houses, 
and in that way become a law, and abrogated the order. But it 
was not approved, it was not returned ; it was retained. It had 
passed the Senate in season ; it had been sent to the House in season ; 
but there it was suffered to lie so long without being called up, that 
it was completely in the power of the President, when it finally 
passed that body ; since he is not obliged to return Bills, which he 
does not approve, if not presented to him ten days before the end 
of the Session. The Bill was lost, therefore, and the Treasury 
order remains in force. Here again the Representatives of the 
People, in both Houses of Congress, by majorities almost unpre- 
cedented, endeavored to abolish this obnoxious order. On hardly 
any subject, indeed, has opinion been so unanimous, either in or 
out of Congress. Yet the order remains. 

And now. Gentlemen, I ask you, and I ask all men who have 
not voluntarily surrendered all power and all right of thinking for 
themselves, whether, from 1832 to the present moment, the 
Executive authority has not effectually superseded the power of 
Congress, thwarted the will of the Representatives of the People, 
and even of the People themselves, and taken the whole subject 
of the currency into its own grasp ? In 1832, Congress desired 
to continue the Bank of the United States, and a majority of the 
People desired it also ; but the President opposed it, and his will 
prevailed. In 1833, Congress refused to remove the Deposits ; 
the President resolved upon it, however, and his will prevailed. 
Congress has never been willing to make a Bank, founded on the 
money and credit of the Government, and administered, of course, 
by Executive hands ; but this was the President's object, and he 
attained it, in a great measure, by the Treasury selection of De- 
posit Banks. In this particular, therefore, to a great extent, his 
will prevailed. In 1836, Congress refused to confine the receipts 
for public lands to gold and silver; but the President willed it, and 
his will prevailed. In 1837, both Houses of Congress, by more 
than two thirds, passed a Bill for restoring the former state of things 
by annulling the Treasury order ; but the President willed, not- 
withstanding, that the order should remain in force, and his will 
again prevailed. I repeat the question, therefore, and I would put 
it earnestly to every intelligent man, to every lover of our Con- 
stitutional Liberty — are we under the dominion of the Law ? or 
has the effectual government of the Country, at least in all that 
regards tlie great interest of the currency, been in a single hand ? 

Gentlemen, I have done with the narrative of events and meas- 
ures. I have done with the history of these successive steps, in 

N 



158 

the progress of Executive power, towards a complete control over 
the revenue and the currency- 

The result is now all before us. These pretended reforms, these 
extraordinary exercises of power from an extraordinary zeal for the 
good of the People, — what have they brought us to ? 

In 1829, the currency was declared to be neither sound nor 
uniform; a proposition, in my judgment, altogether at variance 
with the fact, because I do not believe there ever was a country, 
of equal extent, in which paper formed any part of the circulation, 
that possessed a currency so sound, so uniform, so convenient, and 
so perfect in all respects, as the currency of this Country, at the 
moment of the delivery of that message, in 1829. 

But how is it now ? Where has the improvement brought it ? 
What has reform done ? What has the great cry for hard money 
accomplished ? Is the currency uniform now ? Is money in New 
Orleans now as good, or nearly so, as money in New York ? Are 
exchanges at par, or only at the same low rates as in 1829 and 
other years ? Every one here knows that all the benefits of this 
experiment are but injury and oppression ; all this reform, but ag- 
gravated distress.. 

And as to the soundness of the currency, how does that stand ? 
Are the causes of alarm less now than in 1829? Is there less 
Bank paper in circulation ? Is there less fear of a general catas- 
trophe ? Is property more secure, or industry more certain of its 
reward ? We all know, Gentlemen, that during all this pretended 
warfare against all Banks, Banks have vastly increased. Millions 
upon millions of Bank paper have been added to the circulation. 
Every where, and no where so much as where the present adminis- 
tration, and its measures, have been most zealously supported, 
Banks have multiplied under State authoiity, since the decree was 
made that the Bank of the United States should be suffered to 
expire. Look at Mississippi, Missouri, Louisiana, Virginia, and 
other States. Do we not see that Banking capital and Bank paper 
are enormously inci'easing ? The opposition to Banks, therefore, 
so much professed, whether it be real, or whether it be but pre- 
tended, has not restrained either their number or their issues of 
paper. Both have vastly increased. 

And now a word or two. Gentlemen, upon this hard-money 
scheme, and the fancies, and the delusions, to which it has given 
birth. Gentlemen, this is a subject of delicacy, and one which it 
is difficult to treat with sufficient caution, in a popular and occa- 
sional address like this. I profess to be a bidlionist, in the usual 
and accepted sense of that word. I am for a solid specie basis for 
our circulation, and for specie as a part of the circulation, so far as 
it may be practicable and convenient. I am for giving no value to 
paper, merely as paper. I abhor paper ; that is to say, irredeemable 



159 

paper, paper that may not be converted into gold or silver at the 
will of the holder. But while I hold to all this, 1 believe, also, that 
an exclusive gold and silver circulation is an utter impossibility in the 
present state of this country, and of the world. We shall none of 
us ever see it ; and it is credulity and folly, in my opinion, to act 
under any such hope or expectation. The States will make Banks, 
and these will issue paper ; and the longer the Government of the 
United States neglects its duty in regard to measures for regula- 
ting the currency, the greater will be the amount of Bank paper, 
overspreading the country. Of this I entertain not a particle of 
doubt. 

While I thus hold to the absolute and indispensable necessity of 
gold and silver, as the foundation of our circulation, I yet think 
nothing more absurd and preposterous, than unnatural and strained 
efforts to import specie. There is but so much specie in the world, 
and its amount cannot be greatly or suddenly increased. Indeed 
there are reasons for supposing that its amount has recently dimin- 
ished, by the quantity used in manufactures, and by the diminished 
products of the mines. The existing amount of specie, however, 
must support the paper circulations, and the systems of currency, 
not of the United States only, but of other nations also. One of 
its great uses is to pass from country to country, for the purpose of 
settling occasional balances in commercial transactions. It always 
finds its way, naturally and easily, to places where it is needed for 
these uses. But to take extraordinary pains to bring it, where the 
course of trade does not bring it, where the state of debt and credit 
does not require it to be, and then to endeavor, by unnecessary and 
injurious regulations, Treasury orders, accumulations at the Mint, 
and other contrivances, there to retain it, is a course of policy, bor- 
dering, as it appears to me, on political insanity. It is boasted that 
we have seventy-iive or eighty millions of specie now in the coun- 
try. But what more senseless, what more absurd than this boast, 
if there is a balance against us abroad, of which payment is desired, 
sooner than remittances of our own products are likely to make that 
payment ? What more miserable than to boast of having that, 
which is not ours, — which belongs to others, and which the conve- 
nience of others, and our own convenience also, requires that they 
should possess ? If Boston were in debt to New York, would it be 
wise in Boston, instead of paying its debt, to contrive all possible 
means of obtaining specie from the New York Banks, and hoarding 
it at home ? And yet this, as I think, would be precisely as sensi- 
ble as the course, which the Government of the United States at 
present pursues. We have, without all doubt, a great amount of 
specie in the country, but it does not answer its accustomed end, it 
does not perform its proper duty. It neither goes abroad to settle 



160 

balances against us, and thereby quiet those who have demands 
upon us ; nor is it so disposed of at home, as to sustain the circula- 
tion, to the extent which the circumstances of the times require. 
A great part of it is in the western Banks, in the Land Offices, on 
the roads through the Wilderness, on the passages over the Lakes, 
from the Land Offices to the Deposit Banks, and from the Depos- 
it Banks back to the Land Offices. Another portion is in the 
hands of buyers and sellers of specie ; of men in the West, who 
sell Land Office money to the new settlers for a high premium. 
Another portion, again, is kept in private hands, to be used when 
circumstances shall tempt to the purchase of lands. And, Gentle- 
men, I am inclined to think, so loud has been the cry about hard 
money, and so sweeping the denunciation of all paper, that private 
holding, or hoarding, prevails to some extent, in different parts of 
the country. These eighty millions of specie, therefore, really do 
us little good. We are weaker in our circulation, I have no doubt, 
our credit is feebler, money is scarcer with us, at this moment, than 
if twenty millions of this specie were shipped to Europe, and gen- 
eral confidence thereby restored. 

Gentlemen, I will not say, that some degree of pressure might 
not have come upon us, if the Treasury order had not issued. I 
will not say, that there has not been over-trading, and over-produc- 
tion, and a too great expansion of Bank circulation. This may all 
be so, and the last-mentioned evil, it was easy to foresee, was likely 
to happen, when the United States discontinued their own Bank. 
But what I do say is, that acting upon the state of things as it actu- 
ally existed, and is now actually existing, the Treasury order has 
been, and now is, productive of great distress. It acts upon a state 
of things, which gives extraordinary force to its stroke, and extraor- 
dinary point to its sting. It arrests specie, when the free use and 
circulation of specie are most important ; it cripples the Banks, at 
a moment when the Banks, more than ever, need all their means. 
It makes the merchant unable to remit, when remittance is necessa- 
ry for his own credit, and for the general adjustment of commercial 
balances. I am not now discussing the general question, whether 
prices must not come down, and adjust themselves, anew, to the 
amount of bullion, existing, in Europe and America. I am dealing 
only with the measures of our own Government, on the subject of 
the currency, and I insist that these measures have been most 
unfortunate, and most ruinous on the ordinary means of our circula- 
tion, at home, and on our ability of remittance abroad. 

Their effects, too, by deranging and misplacing the specie, which 
is in the country, are most disastrous on domestic exchanges. Let 
him who has lent an ear to all these promises of a more uniform 
currency, see how he can now sell his draft on New Orleans, or 



161 

Mobile. Let the northern manufacturers and mechanics, those who 
have sold the products of their labor to the South, and heretofore 
realized the prices, with little loss of exchange, let them try present 
facilities. Let them see what reform of the currency has done for 
them. Let them inquire whether, in this respect, their condition is 
better or worse than it was five or six years ago. 

Gentlemen, I hold this disturbance of the measure of value, and 
the means of payment and exchange, this derangement, and, if I may 
so say, this violation of the currency, to be one of the most unpar- 
donable of political faults. He v^ho tampers with the currency, robs 
labor of its bread. He panders, indeed, to greedy capital, which is 
keen-sighted, and may shift for itself; but he beggars labor, which 
is honest, unsuspecting, and too busy with tlie present to calculate 
for the future. The prosperity of the working classes lives, moves, 
and has its being in established credit and a steady medium of pay- 
ment. All sudden changes destroy it. Honest industry never 
comes in for any part of the spoils in that scramble, which takes 
place, when the currency of a country is disordered. Did wild 
schemes and projects ever benefit the industrious ? Did irredeem- 
able Bank paper ever enrich the laborious ? Did violent fluctua- 
tions ever do good to him, who depends on his daily labor for his 
daily bread ? Certainly never. All these things may gratify greed- 
iness for sudden gain, or the rashness of daring speculation ; but 
they can bring nothing but injury and distress to the homes of patient 
industry and honest labor. Who are they that profit by the present 
state of things ? They are not the many, but the few. They are 
speculators, brokers, dealers in money, and lenders of money at 
exorbitant interest. Small capitalists are crushed, and their means, 
being dispersed, as usual, in various parts of the country, and this 
miserable policy having destroyed exchanges, they have no longer 
either money or credit. And all classes of labor partake, and must 
partake, in the same calamity. And what consolation for all this is 
it, that the public lands are paid for in specie ? That whatever 
embarrassment and distress pervade the country, the western wilder- 
ness is thickly sprinkled over with eagles and dollars ? That gold 
goes weekly from Milwauckie and Chicago to Detroit, and back 
again from Detroit to Milwauckie and Chicago, and performs similar 
feats of egress and regress, in many other instances, in the Western 
States ? It is remarkable enough, that with all this sacrifice of 
general convenience, with all this sky-rending clamor for govern- 
ment payments in specie. Government, after all, never gets a dollar. 
So far as I know, the United States have not now a single specie 
dollar in the world. If they have, where is it ? The gold and sil- 
ver collected at the Land Offices is sent to the Deposit Banks ; it 
is there placed to the credit of the Government, and thereby 

VOL. III. 21 N* 



162 

becomes the property of the Bank. The whole revenue of the 
Government, therefore, after all, consists in mere Bank credits ; that 
very sort of security, which the friends of the administration have 
so much denounced. 

Remember, Gentlemen, in the midst of this deafening din against 
all Banks, that if it shall create such a panic, or such alarm, as 
shall shut up the Banks, it will shut up the Treasury of the United 
States also. 

Gentlemen, I would not willingly be a prophet of ill. I most 
devoutly wish to see a better state of things ; and I believe the 
repeal of the Treasury order would tend, very much, to bring about 
that better state of things. And I am of opinion. Gentlemen, that 
the order will be repealed. I think it must be repealed. I think 
the East, West, North, and South will demand its repeal. But, 
Gentlemen, I feel it my duty to say, that if I should be disappointed 
in this expectation, I see no immediate relief to the distresses of the 
community. I greatly fear, even, that the worst is not yet. I look 
for severer distresses ; for extreme difficulties in exchange ; for far 
greater inconveniences in remittance, and for a sudden fall in prices. 
Our condition is one, which is not to be tampered with, and the 
repeal of the Treasury order, being something which Government 
can do, and which will do good, the public voice is right in demand- 
ing that repeal. It is true, if repealed now, the relief will come 
late. Nevertheless its repeal or abrogation is a thing to be insisted 
on, and pursued, till it shall be accomplished. This Executive 
control over the currency, this power of discriminating, by Treasury 
order, between one man's debt and another man's debt, is a thing 
not to be endured in a free country ; and it should be the constant, 
persisting demand of all true Whigs, — " Rescind the illegal Treas- 
ury order, restore the rule of the law, place all branches of the 
Revenue on the same grounds, make men's rights equal, and leave 
the Government of the Country, where the Constitution leaves it, 
in the hands of the Representatives of the People in Congress." 
This point should never be surrendered or compromised. What- 
ever is established, let it be equal, and let it be legal. Let men 
know, to-day, what money may be required of them to-morrow. 
Let the rule be open and public, on the pages of the Statute Book, 
not a secret, in the Executive breast. 

Gentlemen, in the session which has now just closed, I have done 
my utmost to effect a direct and immediate repeal of the Treasury 
order. 

I have voted for a Bill, anticipating the payment of the French 
and Neapolitan Indemnities, by an advance from the Treasury. 

I have voted with great satisfaction for the restoration of duties 
on goods destroyed in the great conflagration in this City. 



1G3 

I have voted for a deposit, with the States, of the surplus which 
may be in the Treasury at the end of tiie year. All these meas- 
ures have failed ; and it is for you, and for our fellow-citizens 
throughout the country, to decide whether the public interest would, 
or would not, have been promoted by their success. 

But I find. Gentlemen, that I am committing an unpardonable 
trespass on your indulgent patience. I will pursue these remarks 
no further. And yet I cannot persuade myself to take leave of you 
without reminding you, with the utmost deference and respect, of 
the important part assigned to you in the political concerns of your 
country, and of the great influence of your opinions, your example, 
and your efforts, upon the general prosperity and happiness. 

Whigs of New York ! Patriotic Citizens of this great metropolis 1 
Lovers of Constitutional Liberty, bound by interest and by affec- 
tion to the Institutions of your Country, Americans in heart and in 
principle ! — You are ready, I am sure, to fulfil all the duties im- 
posed upon you by your situation, and demanded of you by your 
country. You have a central position ; your City is the point from 
which intelligence emanates, and spreads in all directions, over the 
whole land. Every hour carries reports of your sentiments and 
opinions to the verge of the Union. You cannot escape the respon- 
sibility, which circumstances have thrown upon you. You must 
live and act, on a broad and conspicuous theatre, either for good or 
for evil, to your Country. You cannot shrink away from your pub- 
lic duties ; you cannot obscure yourselves, nor bury your talent. In 
the common welfare, in the common prosperity, in the common 
glory of Americans, you have a stake, of value not to be calculated. 
You have an interest in the preservation of the Union, of the Con- 
stitution, and of the true principles of the Government, which no 
man can estimate. You act for yourselves, and for the generations 
that are to come after you ; and those who, ages hence, shall bear 
your names, and partake your blood, will feel, in their political and 
social condition, the consequences of the manner in which you dis- 
charge your political duties. 

Having fulfilled then, on your part and on mine, though feebly 
and imperfectly on mine, the offices of kindness and mutual regard, 
required by this occasion, shall we not use it to a higher and nobler 
purpose ? Shall we not, by this friendly meeting, refresh our patri- 
otism, rekindle our love of Constitutional Liberty, and strengthen 
our resolutions of public duty ? Shall we not, in all honesty and 
sincerity, with pure and disinterested love of Country, as Ameri- 
cans, looking back to the renown of our ancestors, and looking for- 
ward to the interests of our posterity, here, to-night, pledge our 
mutual faith, to hold on, to the last, to our professed principles, to 
the doctrines of true liberty, and to the Constitution of the Coun- 



164 

try, let who will prove true, or who will prove recreant ? Whigs 
of New York ! I meet you in advance, and give you my pledge, 
for my own performance of these dutios, without qualification and 
without reserve. Whether in public life or in private life, in the 
Capitol or at home, I mean never to desert them. I mean never 
to forget that I have a country, to which I am bound by a thousand 
ties ; and the stone which is to lie on the ground that shall cover 
me, shall not bear the name of a son ungrateful to his native land. 



I 



\< 



SPEECH 



DELIVERED MAY 17, 1837, AT THE DINNER GIVEN BY THE 
CITIZENS OF WHEELING, VIRGINIA. 

The following Toast having been presented, 

Our Distinguished Guest. — His manly and untiring, though unsuc- 
cessful efforts to sustain the supremacy of the Constitution and the Laws, 
against the encroachments of Executive power, and to avert the catastrophe 
that now impends over the country, have given him a new claim to the 
gratitude of his countrymen, and added a new lustre to that fame which 
was already imperishably identified with the history of our institutions. 

Mr. Webster rose and responded, in substance, as follows: — 

Mr. Chairman and Fellow-Citizens : — I cannot be indiffer- 
ent to the manifestations of regard with which I have been greeted 
by you, nor can I suffer any show of delicacy to prevent me from 
expressing my thanks for your kindness. 

I travel, Gentlemen, for the purpose of seeing the country, and of 
seeing what constitutes the important part of every country, the 
people. I find every where much to excite, and much to gratify 
admiration ; and the pleasure I experience is only diminished by 
remembering the unparalleled state of distress which I have left be- 
hind me, and the apprehensions, rather than the feeling, of severe 
evils, which I find to exist wherever I go. 

I cannot enable those who have not witnessed it to comprehend 
the full extent of the suffering in the eastern cities. It was painful, 
indeed, to behold it. So many bankruptcies among great and 
small dealers, so much property sacrificed, so many industrious men 
altogether broken up in their business, so many families reduced 
from competence to want, so many hopes crushed, so many happy 
prospects forever clouded, and such fearful looking for still greater 
calamities, — all form such a mass of evil as I had never expected to 
see, except as the result of war, a pestilence, or some other external 
calamity. 

I have no wish, in the present state of things, nor should I have, 
indeed, if the state of things was different — to obtrude the expres- 
sion of my political sentiments on such of my fellow-citizens as I 
may happen to meet ; nor, on the other hand, have I any motive 
for concealmg them, or suppressing their expression, whenever 

165 



166 

others desire that I should make them known. Indeed, on the 
great topics that now engage pubhc attention, 1 hope I may flatter 
myself that my opinions are already known. 

Recent evils have not at all surprised me, excej)t that they have 
come sooner and faster than I had anticipated. But, though not 
surprised, I am afflicted — I feel any thing but pleasure in this 
early fulfilment of my own predictions. Much injury is done, 
which the wisest future counsels can never repair, and much more 
that can never be remedied but by such counsels and by the lapse 
of time. From 1832 to the present moment, I have foreseen this 
result. I may safely say I have foreseen it, because I have pre- 
sented and proclaimed its approach in every important discussion 
and debate in the public body of which I am a member. In 1832, 
I happened to meet with a citizen of Wheeling, now present, who 
this day reminded me of what I then anticipated, as the result of 
the measures which the administration appeared to be forming in 
regard to the currency. In the summer of the next year, 1833, I 
■was here, and suggested to friends what I knew to be resolved upon 
by the Executive, viz. the removal of the deposits, which was 
announced two months afterwards. That was the avowed and 
declared commencement of the " experiment." You know. Gentle- 
men, the obloquy then and since cast upon those of us who opposed 
this "experiment." You know that we have been called Bank 
agents, Bank advocates. Bank hirelings. You know that it has 
been a thousand times said that the experiment worked admirably, 
that nothing could do better, that it was the highest possible evi- 
dence of the political wisdom and sagacity of its contrivers : and 
none opposed it or doubted its efficiency but the wicked or the 
stupid. Well, Gentlemen, here is the end, if this is the end of this 
notable " experiment." Its singular wisdom has come to this — its 
fine workings have wrought out an almost general bankruptcy. 

Its lofty promises, its grandeur, its flashes, that threw other men's 
sense and understanding back into the shade, where are they now ? 
Here is the " fine of fines and the recovery of recoveries." Its 
panics, its scoffs, its jeers, its jests, its gibes at all former experi- 
ence, — its cry of "a new policy," which was so much to delight 
and astonish mankind, — to this conclusion has it come, at last : 

" But yesterda}', it stood against the world ; 
Now lies it there, and none so poor to do it reverence." 

It is with no feelings of boasting or triumph, it is with no dispo- 
sition to arrogate superior wisdom or discernment, but it is with 
mortification, with humiliation, with unaffected grief and affliction, 
that I contemplate the condition of difficulty and distress to which 
this country, so vigorous, so great, so enterprising, and so rich in 
internal wealth, has been brought by the policy of her government 



167 

We learn to-day that most of the eastern banks have stopped 
payment — deposit banks as well as others. The experiment has 
exploded. That bubble, which so many of us have all along re- 
garded as the offspring of conceit, presumption, and political quack- 
ery, has burst. A general suspension of payment must be the 
result; a result which has come even sooner than was predicted. 
Where is now that better currency that was promised ? Where is 
that specie circulation ? Where are those rivers of gold and silver, 
which were to fill the treasury of the government, as well as the 
pockets of the people ? Has the government a single hard dollar? 
Has the treasury any thing in the world but credit and deposits in 
banks that have already suspended payment ? How are public 
creditors now to be paid in specie ? How are the deposits, which 
the law requires to be made with the States on the first of July, now 
to be made ? We must go back to the beginning, and take a new 
start. Every step in our financial banking system, since 1832, has 
been a false step ; it has been a step which has conducted us far- 
ther and farther from the path of safety. 

The discontinuance of the National Bank, the illegal removal of 
the deposits, the accumulation of the public revenue in banks, 
selected by the Executive, and for a long time subject to no legal 
regulation or restraint, and finally the unauthorized and illegal 
Treasury order, have brought us where we are. The destruction of 
the National Bank was the signal for the creation of an unprece- 
dented number of new State banks, some of them with more dispro- 
portionate, and even more nominal capital than the National Bank 
had possessed. These banks, lying under no restraint from the 
general government, or any of its institutions, issued paper corre- 
sponding to their own sense of their immediate interests and hopes 
of gain ; the deposit with the State banks of the whole public 
revenue, then accumulated to a vast amount, and making this 
deposit without any legal restraint or control whatever, increased 
both the power and disposition of these banks for extensive issues. 
In that, the government seems to have administered every possible 
provocation to the banks to induce them to extend their circulation. 
It uniformly, zealously, and successfully opposed the land bill — a 
most useful measure, by which accumulation in the treasury would 
have been prevented ; and, as if it desired and sought this accumu- 
lation, it finally resisted, with all its power, the deposit among the 
States. It is advanced as a reason for the present overthrow, that 
an extraordinary spirit of speculation has gone abroad, and has been 
manifested, particularly and strongly in the endeavor to purchase 
the public lands ; but has not every act of the government directly 
encouraged this spirit? It accumulated revenue which it did not 
need, all of which it left in the deposit banks. The banks had 
money to lend, and there were enough who were ready to borrow, 



168 

for the purpose of purchasing the public lands at government prices. 
The public treasury was thus made the great and effi- 
cient MEANS OF EFFECTING THOSE PURCHASES WHICH HAVE SINCE 
BEEN SO MUCH DENOUNCED AS EXTRAVAGANT SPECULATION AND 
EXTENSIVE MONOPOLY. TheSE PURCHASERS BORROWED THE 
PUBLIC MONEY J THEY USED THE PUBLIC MONEY TO BUY THE PUBLIC 
PROPERTY ; THEY SPECULATED ON THE STRENGTH OF THE PUBLIC 

MONEY; — and while all this was going on, and every man saw it, 
the administration resisted, to the utmost of its power, every attempt 

to WITHDRAW THIS MONEY FROM THE BANKS AND FROM THE HANDS 
OF THOSE SPECULATORS, AND DISTRIBUTE IT AMONG THE PEOPLE 

TO WHOM IT BELONGED. If there has been overtrading, the gov- 
ernment has encourao-ed it ; if there have been rash speculations in 
the public lands, the GOVERNMENT HAS FURNISHED 
THE MEANS OUT OF THE TREASURY. These unpre- 
cedented sales of the public domain were boasted of as proofs of a 
happy state of things, and of a wise administration of the govern- 
ment, down to the moment when Congress, in opposition to execu- 
tive wishes, passed the distribution law, thus withdrawing the 
surplus revenue from the deposit banks. The success of that 
measure compelled a change in the executive policy, as the accu- 
mulation of a vast amount of money in the treasury was no longer 
desirable. This is the most favorable motive to which I can ascribe 
the treasury order of July. It is now said that that order was 
issued for the purpose of enforcing a strict execution of the law 
which forbids the allowance of credits upon purchases of the public 
lands; but there was no such credit allowed before — not an hour 
was given beyond the time of sale. In this respect, the order pro- 
duces no difference whatever. Its only effect is to require an 
immediate payment in specie, whereas, before, an immediate pay- 
ment in the bills of specie-paying banks was demanded. There is 
no more credit in the one case than in the other; and the govern- 
ment gets just as much specie in one case as in the other ; for no 
sooner is the specie, which the purchaser is compelled to procure, 
often at great charge, paid to the receiver, than it is sent to the 
deposit banks, and the government has credit for it on the books 
of the bank ; but the specie itself is again sold by the bank, or dis- 
posed of, as it sees fit. It is evident that the government gets 
nothing by all this, though the purchasers of small tracts are put to 
great trouble and expense. No one gains any thing but the banks 
and the brokers. It is, moreover, most true that the art of man 
could not have devised a plan more effectually to give the large pur- 
chasers or speculators a decided preference and advantage over 
small purchasers, who purchased for actual settlement, than the 
treasury order of July, 1836. The stoppage of the banks, however, 
has now placed the actual settler in a still more unfortunate situation. 



169 

How is be to obtain money to pay for his quarter section ? He 
must travel tbree or four times as many miles for it as he has dollars 
to pay, even if he should be able to obtain it at the end of that 
journey. 

I will not say that other causes, at home and abroad, have not 
had an agency in bringing about the present derangement. I know 
that credits have been used beyond all former example ; that it is 
probable the spirit of trade has been too highly excited ; that the 
pursuit of business may have been pressed too flist and too far. All 
this I am ready to admit. But instead of doing any thing to abate 
this tendency, our government has been the prime instrument of 
fostering and encouraging it. It has parted voluntarily, and by 
advice, with all control over the actual currency of the countiy. 
It has given a free and full scope to the spirit of banking ; it has 
aided the spirit of speculation with the public treasures ; and it has 
done all this, in the midst of loud-sounding promises of an exclusive 
specie medium, and a professed detestation of all banking institu- 
tions. 

It is vain, therefore, to say that the present state of affairs is 
owing, not to the acts of government, but to other causes, over 
which government could exercise no control. Much of it is owing 
to the course of the national government ; and what is not so, to 
causes, the operation of which, government was bound, in duty, to 
use all its legal powei-s to control. 

Is there an intelligent man in the community, at this moment, 
who believes that, if the Bank of the United States had been contin- 
ued, if the deposits had not been removed, if the specie circular had 
not been issued, the financial affairs of the country would have been 
in as bad a state as they now are ? When certain consequences 
are repeatedly depicted and foretold from particular causes, when 
the manner in which these consequences will be produced is pre- 
cisely pointed out, beforehand, and when the consequences come 
in the manner foretold, who will stand up and declare, that, notwith- 
standing all this, there is no connection between the cause and the 
CONSEQUENXK, and that all these effects are attributable to some 
other causes, nobodv knows what ? 

No doubt but we shall hear every cause but the true ones 
assigned for the present distress. It will be laid to the opposition 
in and out of Congress; it will be laid to the Bank ; it will be laid to 
the merchants ; it will be laid to the manufacturers ; it will belaid to 
the tariff; it will be laid to the North Star, or to the malign influ- 
ence of the last comet, whose tail swept near or across the orbit of 
our earth, before we shall be allowed to ascribe it to its just, main 
causes, a tampering with the currency and an attempt to stretch 
Executive jjower over a subject not constitutionally within its 
reach. 

VOL. III. 22 o 



170 

We have heard, Gentlemen, of the suspension of some of the 
eastern banks only ; but I fear the same course must be adopted by 
all the banks throughout the country. The United States Bank, 
now a mere State institution, with no public deposits, no aid from 
government, but, on the contrary, long an object of bitter persecu- 
tion by it, was, at our last advices, still firm. But can we expect 
of that bank to make sacrifices to continue specie payment ? If it 
continue to do so, now the deposit banks have stopped, the gov- 
ernment will draw from it its last dollar, if it can do so, in order to 
keep up a pretence of making its own payments in specie. I shall 
be glad if this institution find it prudent and proper to hold out ; * 
but as it owes no more duty to the government than any other 
bank, and, of course, much less than the deposit banks, I cannot 
see any ground for demanding from it efforts and sacrifices to favor 
the government, which those holding the public money, and owing 
duty to the government, are unwilling or unable to make. Nor 
do I see how the New England banks can stand alone in the gen- 
eral crush. I believe those in Massachusetts are very sound, and 
entirely solvent ; I have every confidence in their ability to pay ; 
and I shall rejoice if, amidst the present wreck, we find them able 
to withstand the storm; but at the same time I confess I shall not 
be disappointed, if they, seeing no public object to be attained, pro- 
portioned to the private loss, and individual sacrifice and ruin, 
which must result from the means necessary to enable them to hold 
out, should not be distinguished from their southern and western 
neighbors. 

I believe, Gentlemen, the "experiment" must go through. I 
believe every part and portion of our country will have a satisfactory 
taste of the " better currency." I believe we shall be blest again 
with the currency of 1812, when money was the only uncurrent 
species of property. We have, amidst all the distress that surrounds 
us, men in and out of power, who condemn a national bank in every 
form, maintain the efficacy and efficiency of State banks for domes- 
tic exchange, and amidst all the sufferings and terrors of the " ex- 
periment," cry out, that they are estabhshing "a better currency." 
The '^ experiments^ — the experiment upon what? The experiment 
of one man upon the happiness, the well-being, and, I may almost 
say, upon the lives of twelve millions of human beings — an "ex- 
periment" that found us in health, that found us with the best 
currency on the face of the earth, the same from the north to the 
south, from Boston to St. Louis, equalling silver or gold in any part 
of our Union, and possessing the unlimited confidence of the Euro- 
pean powers and people, and leaves us crushed, ruined, without 
means at home, and without credit abroad. 

* The mail of that day brought advice of its suspension. 



171 

Tills word " experiment" appears likely to get into no enviable 
notoriety. It may probably be held, in future, to signify any thing 
which is too excruciating to be borne, like a pang of the rheumatism 
or an extraordinary twinge of the gout. Indeed, from the experi- 
ence we now have, we may judge that the bad eminence of the 
Inquisition may be superseded by it, and if one shall be hereafter 
stretched upon the rack, or broken on the wheel, it may be said, 
while all his bones are cracking, all his* muscles snapping, all his 
veins are pouring, that he is only passing into a better state through 
the delightful process of an " €3>perime7ii." 

Gentlemen, you will naturally ask. Where is this to end, and what 
IS TO BE THE REMEDY? These are questions of momentous impor- 
tance ; but probably the proper moment has not come for considering 
this. We are yet in the midst of the whirlwind. Every man's 
thoughts are turned to his own immediate preservation. When the 
blast is over, and we have breathing-time, the country must take 
this subject, this all-important subject of relief for the present and 
security for the future, into its most serious consideration. It will 
undoubtedly first engage the attention and wisdom of Congress. It 
will call on public men, Intrusted with public affairs, to lay aside 
party and private preferences and prejudices, and unite in the great 
work of redeeming the country from this state of disaster and dis- 
grace. All that 1 mean, at present, to say. Gentlemen, is, that the 
government of the United States stands chargeable, in my opinion, 
with a gross dereliction from duty, in leaving the currency, of the 
country entirely at the mercy of others, without seeking to exercise 
over it any control whatever. The means of exercising this control 
rest in the wisdom of Congress, but the duty I hold to be impera- 
tive. It is a power that cannot be yielded to others with safety to 
itself or to them. It might as well give up the power of making 
peace or war to the States, and leave the twenty-six Independent 
sovereignties to select their own foes, raise their own troops, and 
conclude their own terms of peace. It might as well leave the 
States to impose their own duties, regulate their own terms and 
treaties of commerce, as to give up control over the currency in 
which all are interested. 

The present government has been in operation forty-eight years. 
During forty of these forty-eight years we have had a national insti- 
tution performing the duties of a fiscal agent to the government, and 
exercisin<i[ a most useful control over the domestic exchanges and 
over the currency of the country. The first Institution was char- 
tered on the ground that such an institution was necessary to the 
safe and economical administration of the Treasury Department in 
the collection and disbursements of its revenue. The experience 
of the new government had clearly proved its necessity. 

At that time, however, there were those who doubted the power 



172 

of Congress, under the provisions of the Constitution, to incorporate 
a bank ; but a majority of both houses were of a different opinion. 
President Washington sanctioned the measure, and among those 
who doubted, those of most weight and consideration in the country, 
and whose opinions were entitled to the highest respect, yielded to 
the opinion of Congress and the country, and considered it a settled 
question. Among those who first doubted of the power of the gov- 
ernment was one whose name should never be mentioned without 
respect and veneration, one for whom I can say I feel as high a 
veneration as one man can or ought to feel for another, one who 
was intimately associated with all the features of the Constitution — 
Mr. Madison ; yet, when Congress had decided on the measure, by 
large majorities ; when the President had approved it ; when the 
judicial tribunals had sanctioned it ; when public opinion had delib- 
erately and decidedly confirmed it, — he looked on the subject as 
definitely and finally settled. The reasoners of our day think 
otherwise. No decision, no public sanction, no judgment of the 
tribunals, is allowed to weigh against their respect for their own 
opinions. They rush to the argument as to that of a new question, 
despising all lights but that of their own unclouded sagacity, and 
careless of the venerable living and of the mighty dead. They 
poise this important question upon some small points of their own 
slender loiric, and decide it on the strength of their own unintellitri- 
ble metaphysics. It never enters into all their thoughts that this is 
a question to be judged of on broad, comprehensive, and practical 
grounds ; still less does it occur to them that an exposition of the 
Constitution, contemporaneous with its earliest existence, acted on for 
nearly half a century, in which the original framers and government 
officers of the highest note concurred, ought to have any weight in 
their decision, or inspire them with the least doubt of the accuracy 
and soundness of their own opinions. They soar so high in the 
regions of self-respect as to be far beyond the reach of all such con- 
siderations. 

For sound views upon the subject of a National Bank, I would 
commend you. Gentlemen, to the messages of Mr. Madison, and to 
his letter on the subject. They are the views of a truly great man 
and a statesman. 

As the first Bank of the United States had its origin in necessity, 
so had the second ; and, although there was something of misfor- 
tune, and certainly something of mismanagement in its early career, 
no candid and intelligent man can, for a moment, doubt or deny 
its usefulness, or that it fully accomplished the object for which it 
was created. Exchanges, during all the later years of its existence, 
were easily effected, and a currency the most uniform of any in the 
world existed throughout the country. The opponents of these 
institutions did not deny that general prosperity and a happy state 



173 

of things existed at the time they were in operation, but contended 
that equal prosperity would exist without them, while specie would 
take the place of their issues as a circulating medium. How have 
their words been verified ? Both in the case of the first bank and 
that of the last, a general suspension of specie payments has hap- 
pened in about a year from the time they were suffered to expire, 
and a universal confusion and distrust prevailed. The first bank 
expired in 1811, and all the State banks, south of New England, 
stopped payment in 1812; the charter of the late bank expiring in 
March, 1836, and in May, 1837, a like distrust, and a like suspen- 
sion of the State banks, takes place. 

The same results, we may readily suppose, are attributable to 
the same causes, and we must look to the experience and wisdom 
of the people and of Congress to apply the requisite remedy. I 
will not say the only remedy is a National Bank ; but I will say 
that, in my opinion, the only sure remedy for the evils that now 
prey upon us, is the assumption, by the delegates of the people in 
the national government, of some lawful control over the finances 
of the nation, and a power of regulating its currency. 

Gentlemen, allow me again to express my thanks for the kind- 
ness you have shown me this day, and in conclusion to assure you, 
that, though a representative in the federal government of but a 
small section, when compared with the vast territory that acknowl- 
edges allegiance to that government, I shall never forget that I am 
acting for the weal or woe of the whole country, and so far as I am 
capable, will pledge myself impartially to use every exertion for 
that country's welfare. 



o* 



SPEECH 



DELIVERED AT MADISON, INDIANA, JUNE I, 1837. 



[From the Madison Republican Banner, June 7.] 

Daniel Webster visited our town on Tluirsday last. Notice had been 
given the day previous of the probable time of his arrival. At the hour des- 
ignated, crowds of citizens from the town and country thronged the quay. A 
gun from the Ben Franklin, as she swept gracefully round the point, gave notice 
of his approach, and was answered by a gun from the shore. Gun followed 
gun in quick succession, from boat and shore, and the last of the old national 
salute was echoing among hill and glen, as the Franklin reached the wharf. 
Mr. Webster was immediately waited on by the committee appointed to receive 
him, and, attended by them, a committee of invitation from Cincinnati, and sev- 
eral gentlemen from Louisville, he landed amidst the cheers and acclamations 
of the assembled multitude. He wag seated in an elegant barouche, supported 
by Governor Hendricks and John King, Esq., and, with the different committees, 
and a large procession of citizens in barouches, on horseback, and on foot, formed 
under the direction of Messrs. Wharton and Payne, of the committee of arrange- 
ments, marshals of the day, proceeded to the place appointed for his reception, 
an arbor erected at the north end of the market-house, fronting the large area 
formed by the intersection of Main and Main Cross Streets and the public square ; 
and tastefully decorated with shrubbery, evergreens, and wreaths of flowers. In 
the back-ground appeared portraits of Washington and Lafayette, the Declara- 
tion of Independence, and several other appropriate badges and emblems, while 
in front a flag floated proudly on the breeze, bearing for its motto the ever-mem- 
orable sentiment with which he concluded his immortal speech in defence of 
the Constitution, " Liberty AND Union, NOW and forever, one and insepa- 
rable." When the procession arrived, Mr. VV. ascended the stand in the arbor, 
supported by Governor Hendricks and the committee of arrangements, when 
he was appropriately and eloquently addressed by J. G. Marshall, Esq. on behalf 
of the citizens, to which he responded in a speech of an hour's length. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



Louisville, Mat 30, 1837. 

Hon. Daniel Webster: Sir — Your fellow-citizens of the town of 
Madison, Indiana, deeply impressed with a sense of the obligations wiiich 
they and all the true lovers of constitutional liberty, and friends to our 

174 



175 

happy and glorious Union, owe you for the many prominent services ren- 
dered by you to their beloved, though now much agitated and injured coun- 
try, having appointed the undersigned a committee, througli whom to tender 
you their salutations and the hospitalities of their town, desire us earnestly 
to request you to partake of a public dinner, or such other expression of the 
high estimation in which thf3y hold you, as may be most acceptable, at such 
time as you may designate. 

Entertaining the hope, that you may find it convenient to comply with 
tliis request of our constituents and ourselves, we beg leave, with senti- 
ments of the most profound respect and regard, to subscribe ourselves, 

Your fellow-citizens, 

W. LYLE, 

W. J. M'CLURE, 

WxM. F. COLLUM, { ^ 

A. W. PITCHER, ^ Committee. 

JAS. E. LEWIS, 

D. L. M'CLURE, 



Louisville, May 30, 1837. 

Gentlemen: I feel much honored by the communication which I have 
received from you, expressing the friendly sentiments of my fellow-citizens 
of INIadison, and desiring that I should pay them a visit. 

Although so kind an invitation, meeting me at so great a distance, was 
altogether uniooked for, I had yet determined not to pass so interesting a 
point on the Ohio without making some short stay at it. I shall leave tliis 
on Thursday morning, and will stop at Madison, and shall be most 
happy to see any of its citizens who may desire to meet me. I must pray 
to be excused from a formal public dinner, as well from a regard to tiie 
time which it will be in my power to pass with you, as from a general wish, 
whenever it is practicable, to avoid every thing like ceremony or show in 
my intercourse with my fellow-citizens. You truly observe, gentlemen, 
lliat the country at the present moment is agitated. I think, too, that you 
are right in saying it is injured; that is, I think public measures, of a very 
injurious character and tendency, have been unfortunately adopted. But 
our case is not one that leads us to much despondency. The country — the 
happy and glorious country in which you and I live — is great, free, and 
full of resources ; and, in the main, an intelliirent and patriotic spirit per- 
vades the community. These will bring all things rigiit. Whatsoever has 
been injudiciously or rashly done, may be corrected by wiser counsels. 
Nothing can, for any great length of time, depress the great interests of the 
people of the United States, if wisdom and honest good sense shall prevail 
in their public measures. Our present point of suflcring is the currency. In 
my opinion, this is an interest with the preservation of which Congress ia 
charged — solemnly and deeply charged. A uniform currency was one 
of the great objects of the Union. If we fail to maintain it, we so far fail 
of what was intended by the national Constitution. Let us strive to avert 
this reproach from that government and tliat Union, which make us, in so 
many respects, one people ! Be assured that, to the attainment of this end, 
every power and faculty of my mind shall be directed; and may Providence 



176 

so prosper us, that no one shall be able to say, that in any thing, this glori- 
ous Union of the States has come short of fulfilling either its own duties or 
the just expectations of tlie people. 

With sentiments of true regard, gentlemen, I am your much obliged 
friend and fellow-citizen, 

DANIEL WEBSTER. 

To W. Lyle, 

W. J. M'Clure, 

Wm. F. Collum, I ^ ... 
A Tir T> y Committee, 

A. W. Pitcher, ^ 

James E. Lewis, 

David L. M'Cldre, 



MR. MARSHALL'S ADDRESS. 

- Sir — The people now assembled around you, through me, the humble 
organ of their selection, do most sincerely and cordially welcome you to 
Madison. In extending to you the most liberal hospitality, they do no more, 
however, than they would be inclined to do towards the humblest citizen 
of our common country. But this public and formal manifestation of the 
feeling of regard which they entertain for you, is intended to do more than 
inform you of the simple fact that here you can find food and shelter, and 
partake with them of the pleasures of the social circle. If this were all, it 
might be communicated in a manner more acceptablc,by extending to you the 
hand of friendship, and kindly pointing you to the family board; but by this 
public parade, this assembling of the people around you, it is intended to give 
you that consolation, (most grateful and cheering to every true American 
heart,) the PeopWs approbation of your acts as a public servant. This is 
done, not with that abject feeling which characterizes the homage of sub- 
jects, but with that nobler feeling which prompts freemen to honor and 
esteem those who have been their country's benefactors. Prompted by 
such feeling, the patriots of the Revolution delighted to honor the Father 
of our country. He led his armies to victory, and thus wrested the liberties 
of his countrymen from the grasp of a tyrant; — and may we not from like 
impulses manifest gratitude towards those who, by the power of tlieir intel- 
lects, have effectually rebuked erroneous principles which were evidently 
undermining and endangering the very existence of our beloved Union ? 
Yes, sir, our country has now nothing to fear from external violence. It is 
a danger which the whole country can see on its first approach, and every 
arm will be nerved at once to repel it — it can be met at the point of the 
bayonet, and millions would now, as in days that are past, be ready to shed 
their blood in defence of their country. But, sir, in those who artfully excite 
the passions and prejudices of the people, and by presenting to them tlie 
most plausible pretexts (for their own selfish purposes) load tliem thought- 
lessly to abandon the sacred principles upon which our government is 
founded, and to reject the measures which can alone promote the prosperity 
of the country, in such we meet an enemy against whom the most daring 
bravery of the soldier is totally unavailing. 

The injury which is inflicted is not at first felt ^ time is required to 
develop it — and when developed, the closest investigation may be neces- 
sary to trace it to its cause ; this the people may not be able to accomplish. 
This enemy to the country can only be discerned by the keen eye of the 
Statesman, and met and conquered by the power of his intellect. And he 
who is successful in thus defending his country, may well be held in grate- 



177 

ful remembrance by his fellow-citizens. It is for such reasons, sir, that we 
have presented you thc^e testimonials of our approbation. Thourrh person- 
ally a stranixer to us, your public character, your masterly efforts in defence 
of the Constitution, tiie services you have rendered the West, and the prin- 
ciples and measures which you have so ably advocated, are known and 
approved, and I hope will ever be remembered by us. And although some 
of vour efforts have proved for the time unsuccessful, it is to be hoped they 
would now have a different effect When the old and established meas- 
ures of any o;overnment have been abandoned for new ones — simply as an 
experiment — and when that experiment, if it does not produce, is, to say 
the least, immediately followed by ruin and distress in every part of the 
country — may we not hope that men will at least calmly and dispassion- 
ately hear and weitrh the reasons wliy a different policy should be adopted? 
But if the people's representatives cannot be convinced of the error into 
which they have been led, it is high time the people themselves should 
arise from their slumbers — a dark cloud hangs over the land, so thick, so 
dark, a ray of hope can iiardly penetrate it. But shall the people gird on 
tiieir armor and march to battle? No, sir — it is a battle which they must 
fight through the ballot-box ; and perhaps they do not know against what to 
direct their effort ; they are almost in a state of despondency, ready to con- 
clude that they are driven to the verge of ruin by a kind of irresistible 
destinv. The cause of the evil can be discovered only by investigation ; 
and to their public men tliey must look for information and for wisdom to 
direct them. But, sir, it is not our object to relate to you our grievances, 
or recount the past services which you have rendered your country — we 
wish to cheer you on to increased efforts in urging the measures you have 
heretofore so zealously and ably advocated. May your success be equal to 
your efforts — and may happiness and prosperity attend you tlirough life. 

Mr. Webster replied as follows : — 

If, fellow-citizens, I can make myself heard by this numerous 
assembly, speakin<,^, as I do, in the open air, I will return to you 
my heartfelt thanks for the kindness you have shown me. I come 
ainoni; you a stranger. On the day before yesterday, I placed my 
foot, for the first time, in the great and growing State of Indiana. 
Although I have lived on terms of great intimacy and friendship 
with several Western gentlemen, members of Congress, among 
whom is your estimable townsman near me, (Governor Hendricks,) 
I have never before had an opportunity of seeing and forming an 
acquaintance for myself with my fellow-citizens of this section of 
the Union. I travel for this purpose. I confess that I regard with 
astonishment the evidences of intelligence, enterprise, and refine- 
ment every where exhibited around me, when I think of the short 
time that has elapsed since the spot where I stand was a howling 
wilderness. Since I entered public life, this State was unknown as 
a political government — all the country west of the Alleghanies, 
and north-west of the Ohio, constituted but one territory, entitled 
to a single delegate in the councils of the nation, having the right 
to speak, but not to vote. Since then, the States of Ohio, Indiana, 
Illinois, Michigan, and the long strip of country known as the Ter- 
ritory of Wisconsin, have been carved out of it. Indiana, which 
VOL. III. 23 



178 

numbers but twenty years since the commencement of her political 
existence, contains a population of six hundred thousand — equal to 
the population of Massachusetts, a State of two hundred years dura- 
tion. In age she is an infant ; in strength and resources a giant. 
Her appearance indicates the full vigor of maturity, while, judging 
by the measure of her years, she is yet in the cradle. 

Although I reside in a part of the country most remote from you 
— although I have seen you spring into existence and advance 
with rapid strides in the march of prosperity and power, until your 
population has equalled that of my own State, which you far sur- 
pass in fertility of soil and salubrity of climate ; yet these things 
have excited in me no feelings of dislike, or jealousy, or envy. On 
the contrary, I have witnessed them with pride and pleasure, when 
I saw in them the growth of a member of our common country ; 
and with feelings warmer tlian pride, when I recollect that there 
are those among you who are bone of my bone, and flesh of my 
flesh — who inherit my name and share my blood. When they 
came to me for my advice, before leaving their hearths and homes, 
I did not oppose their desires or suggest difficulties in their paths. 
I told them, "Go and join your destinies with those of the hardy 
pioneers of the West — share their hardships and partake their for- 
tunes — go, and God speed you ; only carry with you your own 
good principles, and whether the sun rises on you, or sets on you, 
let it warm American hearts in your bosoms." 

Though, as I observed, I live in a part of the country most 
remote from you, fellow-citizens, I have been no inattentive ob- 
server of your history and progress. I have heard the reports 
made in your Legislature, and the acts passed in pursuance thereof. 
I have traced on the map of your State the routes marked out for 
extensive turnpikes, rail-roads, and canals. I have read with pleas- 
ure the acts providing for their establishment and completion. I do 
not pretend to offer you my advice — it would perhaps be pre- 
sumptuous; but you wmU permit me to say, that as far as I have 
examined them, they are conceived in wisdom, and evince great 
political skill and foresight. You have commenced at the right 
point. To open the means of communication, by which man may, 
when he wishes, see the face of his friend, should be the first work 
of every government. We may theorize and speculate about it 
as we please — we may understand all the metaphysics of politics ; 
but if men are confined to the narrow spot they inhabit, because 
they have not the means of travelling when they please, they must 
go back to a state of barbarism. Social intercourse is the corner- 
stone of good government. The nation that provides no means for 
its improvement, has not taken the first step in civilization. Go on, 
then, as you have begun — prosecute your works with energy and 
perseverance — be not daunted by imaginary difficulties — be not 



179 

deterred by exaggerated calculations of their cost — go on, open 
your wilderness to the sun — turn up the soil — and in the wide- 
spread and highly-cultivated fields, the smiling villages, and the 
busy towns that will spring up from the bosom of the desert, you 
will reap a rich reward for your investment and industry. 
. Another of the paramount objects of government, to which I 
rejoice to see that you have turned your attention, is education. I 
speak not of college education, nor of academy education, though 
they are of great importance ; I speak of free school education — 
common school education. 

Among the planets in the sky of New England — the burning 
lights, which throw intelligence and happiness on her people — the 
first and most brilliant is her system of common schools. I con- 
gratulate myself that my first speech on entering public life was in 
their behalf. Education, to accomplish the ends of good govern- 
ment, should be universally diffused. Open the doors of the school- 
house to all the children in the land. Let no man have the excuse 
of poverty for not educating his own offspring. Place the means 
of education within his reach, and if they remain in ignorance, be 
it his own reproach. If one object of the expenditure of your rev- 
enue be protection against crime, you could not devise a better or 
cheaper means of obtaining it. Other nations spend their money 
in providing means for its detection and punishment, but it is for 
the principles of our government to provide for its never occurring. 
The one acts by coercion, the other by prevention. On the diffu- 
sion of education among the people rests the preservation and 
perpetuation of our free institutions. I apprehend no danger to our 
country from a foreign foe. The prospect of a war with any pow- 
erful nation is too remote to be a matter of calculation. Besides, 
there is no nation on earth powerful enough to accomplish our over- 
throw. Our destruction, should it come at all, will be from another 
quarter. From the inattention of the people to the concerns of 
tlieir government — from their carelessness and negligence — I 
must confess that I do apprehend some danger. I fear that thev 
may place too implicit a confidence in their public servants, and fail 
properly to scrutinize their conduct, — that in this way they may- 
be made the dupes of designing men, and become the instruments 
of their own undoing. Make them intelligent, and they will be 
vigilant — give them the means of detecting tlie wrong, and they 
will apply the remedy. 

The gentleman who has just addressed me in such flattering but 
unmerited terms, has been pleased to make kind mention of ray 
attention to the Constitution, and my humble efforts in its support. 
I claim no merit on that account. It results from my sense of its 
surpassing excellences, which must strike every man who atten- 
tively and impartially examines it. I regard it as the work of the 



180 

purest patriots and wisest statesmen that ever existed, aided by the 
smiles of a benifmant Providence — for when we regard it as a 
system of government growing out of the discordant opinions and 
confiicling interests of tliirteen independent States, it ahiiost appears 
a divine interposition in our behalf. I have always, with the 
utmost zeal and moderate abilities I possess, striven to prevent its 
infraction in the slightest particular. I believed if that bond of 
union were broken, we would never again be a united people. 
Where, among all the political tinkers, the constitution-makers and 
the constitution-menders of the day, could we find a man to make 
us another ? Who would even venture to propose a re-union ? 
Where would be the starting point, and what the plan ? I do not 
expect miracles to follow each other. None could be proposed 
that would be adopted; the hand that destroys the Constitution 
rends our Union asunder forever. 

My friend has been pleased to remember, in his address, my 
humble support of the Constitutional right of Congress to improve 
the navigation of our "reat internal rivers, and to construct roads 
through the different States. It is well known that my opmions 
on this subject are stronger than most men's. Believing that the 
object of the Union was to secure the general safety and promote 
the general welfare, and that the Constitution was designed to point 
out the means of accomplishing these ends, I have always been in 
favor of such measures as I deemed for the general benefit, under 
the restrictions and limitations prescribed by the Constitution itself. 
I supported them with my voice, and my vote, not because they 
were for the benefit of the West, but because they were for the 
benefit of the whole country. That they are local in their advan- 
tages, as well as in their construction, is an objection that has been 
and will be urged against every measure of the kind. In a country 
so widely extended as ours, so diversified in its interests and in the 
character of its people, it is impossible that the operation of any 
measure should affect all alike. Each has its own peculiar interest, 
whose advancement it seeks: we have the sea-coast, and you the 
noble river that flows at your feet. So it must ever be. Go to 
the smallest government in the world — the Republic of San Ma- 
rino, in Italy, possessing a territory of but ten miles square — and 
* you will find its citizens, separated but by a few miles, having some 
interests which, on account of local situation, are separate and dis- 
tinct. There is not on the face of the earth a plain, five miles in 
extent, whose inhabitants are the same in their pursuits and pleas- 
ures. Some will live on a creek, others near a hill, which, when 
any measure is proposed for the general benefit, will give rise to 
jarring claims and opposing interests. In such cases, it has always 
appeared to me that the point to be examined was, whether the 
principle was general ; if the principle were general, although the 



181 

application might be partial, I cheerfully and zealously give it nniy 
support. When an objection has been made to an appropriation 
for clearing the snags out of the Ohio river, I have answered it 
with the question, " Would you not vote for an appropriation to 
clear the Adantic Ocean of snags, were the navigation of your 
coast thus obstructed ? they contribute their portion of the reve- 
nue to fortify your sea-coast, and erect piers, and harbors, and light- 
houses, from which they derive a remote benefit, and why not con- 
tribute yours to improve the navigation of a river whose commerce 
enriches the whole country ? " 

It may be expected, fellow-citizens, that I should say something 
on a topic which agitates and distracts the public mind — the 
deranged state of the currency, and the general stagnation of busi- 
ness. In giving my opinions on this topic, 1 wish it to be distinctly 
understood, that I force them on no man. I am an independent 
man, speaking to independent men. I think for myself; you of 
course enjoy and exercise the same right. I cheerfully concede to 
every one the liberty of differing with me in sentiment, readily 
granting that he has as good a chance of being right as myself — 
perhaps a better. But I have some respect for my character as a 
public man. The present state of things has grown out of a series 
of measures, to which I have been in uniform opposition. In 
speaking of their consequences, I am doing but justice to myself in 
showing them in justification of my conduct. I am performing a 
duty to my fellow-citizens, who have a right to know the opinions 
of every public man. The present state of things is unparalleled 
in the annals of our country. The general suspension of specie 
payments by the banks — beginning I know not where, and ending 
I know not where, but comprehending the whole country — has 
produced wide-spread ruin and confusion through the land. To 
you the scene is one of apprehe/ision as yet ; to us, of deep distress. 
You cannot understand, my /ellow-citizens, nor can I describe it so 
as to enable you to understand, the embarrassment and suffering 
which is depressing the spirit and crushing the energies of the peo- 
ple of the sea-girt State of the East. You are agriculturists — you 
produce what you consume, and always have the means of living 
witliin your reach. We depend on others for their agricultural pro- 
ductions — 'we live by manufactures and commerce, of which credit 
is the life's I)lood. The destruction of credit is the destruction of our 
means of living. The man who cannot fulfil his daily engagements, 
or with whom others fail to fulfil theirs, must suffer for his daily 
bread. And who are those who suffer ? Not the rich, for they 
can generally take care of themselves. Capital is ingenious and 
far-sighted — ready in resources and fertile in expedients to shelter 
itself from impending storms. Shut it out from one source of 
increase, and it will find other avenues of profitable investment. 

p 



182 

It is the industrious, working part of the community — men whose 
hands have grown hard by holding the plough and pulling the oar — 
men who depend on their daily labor and their daily pay — who, 
when the operations of trade and commerce are checked and pal- 
sied, have no prospect for themselves and their families but beggary 
and starvation. All this has been attributed to causes as different 
as can be imagined ; over trading — over buying — over selling — 
over speculating — overproduction — terms which I acknowledge 
I do not very well understand. I am at a loss to conceive how a 
nation can become poor by overproduction — producing more than 
she can sell or consume. I do not see where there has been over 
trading, except in public lands ; for when every thing else was up 
to such an enormous price, and the public land tied down to one 
dollar and a quarter an acre, who would not have bought it if he 
could ? 

These causes could not have produced all those consequences 
which have produced such general lamentation. They must have 
proceeded from some other source. And I now request you, my 
iellow-citizens, to bear witness, that here, in this good city, on the 
banks of the Ohio, on the first day of June, 1837, beneath the 
bright sun that is shining upon us, I declare my conscientious con- 
viction that they have proceeded from the measures of the General 
Government in relation to the currency. I make this declaration 
in no spirit of enmity to its authors — I follow no man with rebukes 
or reproaches. To reprobate the past will not alleviate the evils 
of the present. It is the duty of every good citizen to contribute 
his strength, however feeble, to diminish the burden under which a 
people groans. To apply the remedy successfully, however, we 
must first ascertain the causes, character, and extent of the evil. 
Let us go back, then, to its origin. Forty-eight years have 
elapsed since the adoption of our Constitution. For forty years of 
that time we had a National Bank. Its establishment orio;lnated 
in the Imperious obligation Imposed on every government to furnish 
its people with a circulating medium for their commerce. No 
matter how rich the citizen may be in flocks and herds — in houses 
and lands — if his government does not furnish him a medium of 
exchange, commerce must be confined to the petty barter suggested 
by mutual wants and necessities, as they exist in savage life. The 
history of all commercial countries shows that the precious metals 
can constitute but a small part of this circulating medium. The 
extension of commerce creates a system of credit — the transmission 
of money from one part of the country to the other gives birth to 
the business of exchange. To keep the value of this medium and 
the rates of exchange equal and certain, was imperiously required 
by the necessities of the times when the Bank was established. 
Under the old confederacy, each of the thirteen States established 



183 

and regulated its own money, which passed for its full value within 
the State, and was useless the moment it crossed the State border. 
The little State of Rhode Island, for instance — (I hope no son of 
hers present will take offence at what I say) — so small that an 
Indiana man might almost cover her territory with his hand, was 
crowded with Banks. A man might have been rich at Providence, 
but before he could travel to Boston, forty miles distant, he would 
starve for want of money to pay for his breakfast. 

Had this state of things continued, some of the provisions of the 
Constitution would have been of no force or virtue. Of what value 
to Congress would have been the right to levy taxes, imposts, and 
duties — to regulate commerce among different States, — and of 
what effect or consequence the prohibition on the different States, 
of levying and collecting imposts, if each and every one of them 
had possessed the right of paying her taxes and duties in a currency 
of her own, which would not pass one hundred miles, perhaps, from 
the bank where it was issued ? The creation of the National Bank 
presented the surest means of remedying these evils, and accomplish- 
ing one of the principal objects of the Constitution — the establish- 
ment and maintenance of a currency whose value would be uniform 
in every part of the country. During the forty years it existed, we 
had no general suspension of specie payments, as at present. We 
got along well with it, and I am one of those who are disposed to 
let icell alone. I am content to travel along the good old turnpike 
on which I have journeyed before with comfort and expedition, 
without turning aside to try a new track. I must confess that I do 
not possess that soaring self-respect — that lofty confidence in my 
own political sagacity and foresight — which would induce me to 
set aside the experience of forty years, and risk the ruin of the 
country, for the sake of an Erperiment. To this is all the distress 
of the country attributable. This has caused such powerful inva- 
sions of bank paper, like sudden and succeeding ffights of birds of 
prey and passage, and the rapid disappearance of specie at its 
approach. You all know that bank notes have been almost as 
plenty as the leaves of the forest in the summer. But of what 
value are they to the holder, if he is compelled to pay his debts in 
specie ? And who can be expected to pay his debts, when the 
Government has withdrawn the specie from circulation ? 

You have not felt the evil in its full extent. It is mostly in 
prospect, and you are watching its approach. While you are 
endeavoring to guard against it, strive to prevent its future recur- 
rence. As you would hunt down, with hound and horn, the wolf 
who is making nightly havock of your flocks and herds, pursue and 
keep down those who would make havock in your business and 
property by experiments on our currency. 

Although the country has bowed beneath the pressure, I do not 



184 

fear that it will be broken down and prostrated in the dust. De- 
press them as it may, the energy and industry of the people will 
enable them to rise again. We have for a long time carried a load 
of bad government on our shoulders, and we are still able to bear 
up under it. But I do not see that, for that reason, we should be 
willing and eager to carry it. 1 do not see why it should prevent 
us from wishing to lessen it as much as possible, if not to throw it 
off altogether, when we know that we can get along so much easier 
and faster without it. While we are exerting ourselves with 
renewed industry and economy to recover from its blighting effects ; 
while we plough the land and plough the sea ; — let us hasten the 
return of things to their proper state, by such political measures as 
will best accomplish the desired end. Let us inform our public 
servants of our wishes, and pursue such a course as will compel 
them to obey us. 

In conclusion, my fellow-citizens, 1 return you my thanks for the 
patience and attention with which you have listened to me, and 
pray the beneficent Giver of all good, that he may keep you under 
the shadow of his wing, and continue to bless you with peace and 
prosperity. 



M 



SPEECH 



DELIVERED IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, SEPTEM- 
BER 14, 1G37, ON THE BILL TO POSTPONE THE PAYMENT OF 
THE FOURTH INSTALMENT OF THE DEPOSIT TO THE 
STATES. 

Mr. Webster rose, and said that the importance of the present 
crisis, and the urgency of this occasion, were such as to lead him 
earnestly to desire that some measures of adequate relief might 
come from the quarter which alone had the power to effect any 
thing, by the majority it commanded. Much as I differ from them^ 
(said Mr. W.,) I would be glad to accept any measure of substantial 
relief which they might bring forward. I think, sir, I see such a 
necessity for relief as never before, within my recollection, has 
existed in this country ; and I regret to be obliged to say. that the 
measures proposed by the President, in his Message to Congress, 
and reiterated by the Secretary of the Treasur)', in his report to the 
same body, only regard one object, and are, in their tendency, only 
directed to one branch of partial relief. The evils, however, under 
which the community now suffers, (said Mr. W.,) though related, 
and of the same family, are yet capable of distinct consideration. 
In the first place, there are the wants of the Treasury, arising from 
the stoppage of payments and the falling off of the revenue. This 
Is an exigency requiring the consideration of Congress : it is an evil 
threatening to suspend the functions of at least one department of 
the Government, unless it be remedied. Another, and a greater 
evil, is, the prostration of credit, the interruption brought upon all 
business transactions, arising from the suspension of all the local 
banks throughout the country, with some few and trifling excep- 
tions. Hence have proceeded a prostration of the local currency, 
and a serious obstruction and difficulty thrown in the way of buying 
and selling. A third want is, the want of an accredited paper 
medium, equal to specie, having equal credit over all parts of the 
country, capable of serving for the payment of debts and carrying 
on the internal business of the country throughout and between the 
different and distant sections of this great Union. These three 
evils, though they are coexistent and cognate in their being, cannot 
be met by the same measures of relief: if relief is given to the one, 
it does not follow that you will relieve the others ; if you replenish 
VOL. III. 24 ^® p* 



186 

the Treasury, and thus bring a remedy to that evil, this brings no 
relief to the disordered currency. And again ; if the local currency 
is relieved, it does not supply the other want, namely, that of a 
universally accredited medium. 

It has, no doubt, struck the country generally that the most im- 
portant objection to the Message is, that it says nothing about relief 
to the country, directly and mainly ; the whole amount of the prop- 
osition it contains relates to the Government Itself; the interest 
of the community is treated as collateral, incidental, and contingent. 
So, in the communication made by the Secretary of the Treasury, 
the state of the currency, the condition in which the commerce and 
trade of the country now are, is not looked at as a prominent and 
material object. The Secretary's report, as well as the Message 
itself, exclusively regards the iiiterest of the Government, forgetting 
or passing by the people. The outpourings of the Secretary, 
which are very considerable in quantity, are under seven heads, the 
exact number of the seven vials of which we read ; but the contents 
of none of these is concocted or prepared in reference to the benefit 
of the community ; all the medicine is Intended for the Government 
Treasury, and there is none for the sickness and disease of society, 
except collaterally, remotely, and by-the-by. It is, however, to the 
credit of the President that he has given, in an unequivocal and in- 
telligible manner, his reasons for not recommending a plan for the 
relief of the country ; and they are that, according to his view, it is 
not within the constitutional province of Government. I confess 
(said Mr. W.) this declaration is to me quite astounding, and I can- 
not but think that, when it comes to be considered, it will produce 
a shock upon the whole country. This avowed disregard of the 
public distress, upon the ground of alleged want of power ; this 
exclusive concern for the Interest of Government and revenue ; this 
broad line of distinction, now, for the first time, drawn between the 
interests of the Government and the interests of the People, must 
certainly present a new era in our politics. For one, (said Mr. 
W.,) 1 consider Government as but a mere agency ; It acts not for 
itself, but for the country ; the whole end and design of Its being is 
to promote the general interests of the community. Peculiar inter- 
ests, selfish interests, exclusive regard for Itself, are wholly incom- 
patible with the objects of its institution, and convert it from its true 
character as an agency for the people, into a separate dominant 
power, with purposes and objects exclusively its own. 

Holding, Mr. President, opinions on tills subject, and being pre- 
pared to stand by and maintain them, I am certainly rejoiced at the 
clear shape which the question has at last assumed. Now, he that 
runs may read ; there are none but can see what the question is : Is 
there any duty incumbent on this Government to superintend the 
actual currency of the country ? has it any thing to do beyond the 



187 

regulation of the gold and silver coin? In that state of mixed cur- 
rency which existed when the Constitution was formed, and which 
has existed ever since, is it, or is it not, a part of the duty of the 
Government to exercise a supervisory care and concern over that 
which constitutes hy far the greater part of that currency? 

In other words, may this Government abandon to the States and 
to the local banks, without control or supervision, the unrestrained 
issue of paper for circulation, without any attempt, on its own part, 
to establish a paper medium which shall be equivalent to specie, 
and universally accredited all over the country ? Or, Mr. Presi- 
dent, to put the question in still other words, since this Government 
has the regulation of trade, not only between the United States and 
foreign states, but between the several States themselves, has it 
nevertheless no power over that which is the most important and 
essential agent or instrument of trade, the actual circulating medium? 
Now, Mr. President, on these questions, as already said, I enter- 
tain sentiments wholly different from those which the Message 
expresses. 

It is, (said Mr. W.,) in my view, an imperative duty imposed 
upon this Government by the Constitution, to exercise a super- 
visory care and control over all that is in the country assuming the 
nature of a currency, whether it be metal or whether it be paper; 
all the coinage of the country is placed in the power of the Federal 
Government ; no State, by its stamp, can give value to a brass far- 
thing. The power to regulate trade and commerce between the 
United States and foreign or Indian nations, and also between the 
respective States themselves, is expressly conferred by the Consti- 
tution upon the General Government. Now, it is clear that the 
power to regulate commerce between the States carries with it, not 
impliedly, but necessarily and directly, a full power of regulating 
the essential element of commerce, viz. thecurrency of the country, 
the money, which constitutes the life and soul of commerce. We 
live in an age when paper money is an essential element in all trade 
between the States ; its use is inseparably connected with all com- 
mercial transactions. That it is so, is now evident, since by the 
suspension of those institutions from which this kind of money 
emanates, all business- is comparatively at a stand. Now, sir, (said 
Mr. W.,) wliat I maintain is simply this, that it surely is the duty 
of some body to take care of the currency of the country ; it is a 
duty imposed upon some power in this country, as is done in every 
other civilized nation in the world. 

I repeat, sir, that it is the duty of some Government or other to 
supervise the currency. Surely, if we have a paper medium in the 
country, it ought only to exist under the sanction and supervision 
of the Government of the country. Now, sir, if the General Gov- 
ernment does not exercise this supervision, who else, I siiould like 



188 

to know, is to do it? Who supposes tliat it belongs to any of the 
State Governments, for example, to provide for or regulate the cur- 
rency between New Orleans and New York ? 

The idea has been thrown out that it is not the duty of the Gov- 
ernment to make provision for domestic exchanges, and the practice 
of other Governments has been referred to ; but, I think, in this 
particular a great mistake has been committed. It is certainly far 
otherwise in England : she provides for them most admirably, 
though by means not perhaps altogether in our power : she and 
other'nations, however, provide for them, and it is plain and obvious 
that if we are to have a paper medium of general credit in this 
country, it must be under the sanction and supervision of the 
Government. Such a currency is itself a proper provision for ex- 
changes. If there be a paper medium always equivalent to coin, 
and of equal credit in every part of the country, this itself becomes 
a most important instrument of exchange. Currency and exchange 
thus become united ; in providing for one. Government provides for 
the other. If the Government v\ill do its duty on the great subject 
of the currency, the mercantile and industrious classes will feel the 
benefit through all the operations of exchange. No doubt some 
modes of establishing such a currency may be more favorable to 
exchange than others; but by whatever mode established, such a 
currency must be useful to a gVeat extent. The question, therefore, 
comes to this, whether we are to have such a medium. I under- 
stand there are gentlemen who are opposed to all paper money, 
who would have no medium whatever in circulation but gold and 
silver: now this, at all events, is an intelligible proposition ; but as 
to those who say that there may be a paper medium, and yet that 
there shall be no such medium universally receivable, and of general 
credit, however honest the purposes of such gentlemen may be, 1 
cannot perceive the sanity of such views; I cannot comprehend the 
utility of their intentions ; I can have no faith, sir, in any such sys- 
tems. Now, I would ask this plain question, whether any one 
imagines that all the duty of Government, in respect to the cur- 
rency, is comprised in merely taking care that the gold and silver 
coin be not debased. If this be all its duty, that duty is performed, 
for there is no debasement of them ; they are good and sound ; if 
this is all the duty of Government, ^ has done its duty ; but if Gov- 
ernment is bound to regulate commerce and trade, and, conse- 
quently, to exercise oversight and care over that which is the essen- 
tial element of all the transactions of commerce, then Government 
has done nothing. " 

I shall not, however, (said Mr. W.,) enter into this question to- 
day, nor perhaps on any early occasion ; my opinions upon it are 
all well known, and I leave it with great confidence to the judg- 
ment of the country, only expressing my strong conviction that 



189 

until the people do muke up their minds, and cause the result of 
their conclusions to be carried into effect by their representatives, 
there will be nothing but agitation and uncertainty, confusion and 
distress, in the commerce and trade of the country. 

I shall now (continued Mr. W.) confine myself to a few remarks 
on the bill before us, and not detain the Senate longer than will be 
strictly necessary to give a plain statement of my opinion. 

This measure is proposed in order to provide for the wants of 
the Government. I agree that this is a necessary object ; but the"" 
question is, whether this bill is the proper mode of making such a 
provision. I do not think it is, though others may think differ- 
ently : if this is indeed the best mode, I should wish to see it carried 
into execution ; for relief is wanted, both by the Treasury and by 
the country — but first and chiefly by the country. 

I do not say that, by the law providing for this deposit, the 
States have any fixed right to it ; I prefer to put the matter en- 
tirely on the footing of convenience and expediency ; and when it 
is considered what expectations have been raised — that this money 
has even been already disposed of in advance by the several States 
for different purposes, such as Internal Improvements, Education, 
and o'ther great objects — it becomes a question of expediency 
whetlier it would not be better to supply the wants of the Treasury 
by other means. 

Another consideration of great importance in my view is this: 
There are already many disturbing causes in operation, agitating the 
transactions of society in all the various ramifications of business 
and commerce. Now, I would ask, sir, is it advisable, is it wise, 
is it even politic, to inti'oduce, at such a time as this, another great 
disturbing cause, producing a reversed action, altering the destiny 
of this money, overthrowing contracts now entered into, disappoint- 
ing expectations raised, disturbing, unsettling, and deranging still 
more the already deranged business transactions of tl)e whole 
country ? I would ask, is it worth while to do this ? I think not. 

We are to consider that this money, according to the provisions 
of the existing law, is to go equally among all the States, and among 
all the people ; and the wants of the Treasury must be supplied, 
if supplies be necessary, equally by all the people. It is not a 
question, therefore, whether some shall have money, and others shall 
make good the deficienc3\ All partake in the distribution, and 
all w ill contribute to the su])ply. So that it is a mere question of 
convenience, and, in my opinion it is decidedly most convenient, on 
all accounts, that this instalment should follow its present destina- 
tion, and the necessities of the Treasury be provided for by other 
means. 

Again, if you pass this bill, what is it? It is mere hrutumful- 
men; of itself it will not produce any good if you do pass it. All 



190 

admit there is no money; therefore the bill will give no relief to the 
Treasury, This bill, Mr. President, will not produce to the Secre- 
tary one dollar; he acknow ledijes himself that at all events it will 
not produce him many, for he says he wants other aid, and he has 
applied to Congress for an issue of some millions in Treasury notes. 
He gets the money, therefore, just as well without this bill as with 
it ; the bill itself, then, is unnecessary, depriving the States of a sum 
which the Secretary cannot avail himself of, and which sum, not- 
withstanding this bill, he proposes to supply by an issue of Govern- 
ment notes. 

He calls this collateral aid to the measure of postponement ; but 
this evidently reverses the order of things, for the Treasury notes 
are his main reliance ; to them only he looks for immediate relief; 
and this instalment now to be withheld is (as a productive source 
of revenue) only subsequent and collateral to the issue of the notes. 

But, now, sir, what sort of notes does the Secretary propose to 
issue? He proposes, sir, to issue Treasury notes of small denomi- 
nations, down even as low as twenty dollars, not bearing interest, 
and redeemable at no fixed period ; they are to be received in debts 
due to Government, but are not otherwise to be paid until at some 
indefinite time there shall be a certain surplus in the Treasury be- 
yond what the Secretary may think its wants require. Now, sir, 
this is plain, authentic, statutable paper money ; it is exactly a new 
emission of old continental. If the Genius of the old Confedera- 
tion were now to rise up in the midst of us, he could not fuinish us, 
from the abundant stores of his recollection, with a more perfect 
model of paper money. It carries no interest; it has no fixed lime 
of payment ; it is to circulate as currency ; and it is to circulate on 
the credit of Government alone, with no fixed period of redemption ! 
If this be not paper money, pray, sir, what is it? And, sir, who 
expected this? Who expected that in the fifth year of the EX- 
PERIMENT FOR REFORMING THE CURRENCY, and 
bringing it to an absolute gold and silver circulation, the Treasury 
Department would be found recommending to us a regular emission 
of PAPER MONEY ? This, sir, is quite new in the history of 
this Government ; it belongs to that of the Confederation, which 
has passed away. 

Since 1789, although we had issued Treasury notes on sundry 
occasions, we had issued none like these ; that is to say, we have 
issued none not bearing interest, intended for circulation, and with 
no fixed mode of redemption. I am glad, however, Mr. President, 
that the committee have not adopted the Secretary's recommenda- 
tion, and that they have recommended the issue of Treasury notes 
of a description more conformable to the practice of the Gov- 
ernment, 

I think (said Mr. W.) there are ways by which the deposits 



191 

U'ith the States might be paid by the funds in the banks ; there arc 
large sums on de[)osit in some of the States, and an arrangement 
might be made for tlie States to receive the notes of their own banks 
in payment of tliis instain)cnt, while tl)e Treasury is at the same 
time relieved by its own measure, and all the inconvenience, disap- 
pointment, and disturbance which this bill will necessarily create, 
would be avoided. At any rate, the payment of this deposit could 
do no more than in some measure to increase the amount of 
Treasury notes necessary to be issued ; it is a question of quantity 
merely. Much of the instalment, 1 believe, might be paid by ju- 
dicious arrangements, out of those funds now in the banks, which 
the Secretary cannot use for other purposes, so that the whole 
might be provided for, by no great augmentation of the proposed 
amount of Treasury notes. 1 am, therefore, of opinion that this 
instalment should not be withheld : 1st. Because the withholding 
of it will produce great inconvenience to the States and to the 
people. 2d. Because provision may be made for paying it without 
any large addition to the sum which it is proposed to raise, and 
which, at all events, must be raised for the uses of the Treasury. 

In relation to the general subjects of the jMessage, there is one 
thing which I intended to have said, but have omitted ; it is this. 
We have seen the declaration of the President, in which he says 
that he refrains from suggesting any specific plan for the regulation 
of the exchanges of the country, and for relieving mercantile em- 
barrassments, or for interfering with the ordinary operation of foreign 
or domestic commerce ; and that he does this from a conviction 
that such measures are not within the constitutional province of the 
General Government ; and yet he has made a recommendation to 
Congress which appears to me to l)e very remarkable; and it is of 
a measure which he thinks may prove a salutary remedy against a 
depreciated paper currency. This measure is neither more nor 
less than a bankrupt law against corporations and other bankers. 

Now, INIr. President, it is certainly true that the Constitution 
authorizes Congress to establish uniform rules on the subject of 
])ankruptcies ; but it is equally true, and abundantly manifest, that 
this pow er was not granted with any reference to currency ques- 
tions. It is a general power — a power to make uniform rules on 
the subject. How is it possible that sucii a power can be fairly 
exercised by seizing on corporations and bankers, but excluding all 
the other usual subjects of bankrupt laws? Besides, do such laws 
ordinarily extend to corporations at all ? But suppose they might 
be so extended, by a bankrupt law enacted for the usual purposes 
contemplated by such laws ; how can a law be defended which em- 
braces them and bankers alone ? I should like to hear what the 
learned gentleman at the head of the Judiciary Committee, to whom 
the subject is referred, has to say upon it. 



192 

How does the President's suggestion conform to his notions of 
the Constitution ? Tlie object of bankrupt laws, sir, has no relation 
to currency. It is simply to distribute the effects of insolvent 
debtors among their creditors ; and 1 must say, it strikes me that it 
would be a great perversion of the power conferred on Congress, to 
exercise it upon corporations and bankers, with the leading and pri- 
mary object of remedying a depreciated paper currency. 

And this appears the more extraordinary, inasmuch as the Presi- 
dent is of opinion that the general subject of the currency is not 
within our province. Bankruptcy, in its common and just meaning, 
is within our province. Currency, says the Message, is not. But 
we have a bankruptcy power in the Constitution, and we will use 
this power, not for bankruptcy, indeed, but for currency. This, I 
confess, sir, appears to me to be the short statement of the matter. 
1 would not do the Message, or its author, any intentional injustice, 
nor create any apparent, where there was not a real, inconsistency ; 
but 1 declare, in all sincerity, that I cannot reconcile the proposed 
use of the bankrupt power with those opinions of the Message 
which respect the authority of Congress over the currency of the 
country. 

Mr. Wright having made some remarks — 

Mr. Webster said, in reply, if the Act of 1815 authorized the 
issuing of Treasury notes, no circulation was ever made of such 
notes as the Secretary now recommends. All Treasury notes went 
on the ground of a temporary loan to the Government, to be paid 
or funded as soon as the Treasury would allow. 

The member from New York '(Mr. Wright) had said that the 
question before the Senate was a simple proposition, whether they 
should borrow money to be safely kept with the States. By him, 
and hy others, it had also been represented as a question, whether 
they should borrow money to give away. Nobody, Mr. W. 
thought, would borrow money merely to give away, or deposit for 
safe-keeping. But he would put it to the honorable member, if any 
Government had made a contract, or excited an expectation, that a 
deposit would be made, and the other party had acted on the faith 
of this assurance, and had nearly completed their arrangements, 
whether it ought not to supply the means, even if it did not, at the 
time, possess them. And suppose it was the promise of a gift, 
instead of a deposit, might it not be found more just to borrow, 
than to defeat the expectation on which the other party had acted ? 
What was the object of this bill ? It was not to repeal, but to post- 
pone what was hereafter to be fulfilled. Such being the case, it 
was doubtful w hetlier it could ever be transferred to the States with 
more convenience than it could now from the banks. 



193 

During the late war there was great want of money, and a great 
disposition to use Treasury notes, and pass them as a medium of 
payment to the public creditors. But in the difficulties and em- 
barrassments of a foreign war, things were done, which, in a day 
of peace and abundance, we should be slow to do. And one thing 
which we should be slow to do was, to propose by law that we 
should pay the public creditors any thing less in value than gold 
and silver, on the condition that the creditors would voluntarily 
take it. The Secretary had said that the protested checks now in 
circulation were only a little depreciated below the value of specie, 
and argues that these notes will be as good at least as the protested 
checks. But suppose these notes should be depreciated only a 
little below the value of silver; was it proposed that they should be 
offered to the public creditors, if they would receive them ? What 
was meant when it was said that the officers of the Government 
may j)ay its creditors in Treasury notes, if they will voluntarily 
receive them? What was the alternative? Were the gold and 
silver held in one hand, and the Treasury notes in the other? On 
the contrary, it was a sort of forced payment, not as good as was 
required by law. All knew there was no choice. The men who 
labored in the streets of this city, on the public works, or who fur- 
nished the bricks and stones, would come for their pay, and they 
would be offered Treasury notes, and asked if they were willing to 
take them. But would there be gold and silver in the other hand ? 
No ; nothing but the Treasury notes, and they would be asked if 
they were willing to take them ; and then, if they should take them, 
that is called voluntary reception. 

Now, it is evident that in such a case the only choice is between 
Treasury notes, on the one hand, and something worse, or nothing 
at all, on the other. No man can be supposed to receive volunta- 
rily any thing of less value than that which he is legally entitled to. 
The reception of such inferior medium is always the result of force 
or necessity, either greater or smaller. Neither the justice nor the 
dignity of the Government could ever allow of such a course. If 
Treasury notes were offered to the public creditor, there ought to 
be an actual choice afforded between them and the specie. And 
especially, with what an aspect could this Government offer such 
payment, at the very moment when, with a stern countenance and 
iron hand, it was demanding of its creditors metallic money for every 
dollar of its dues ? Was it not now the law that no officer of the 
Government should offer the public creditor any thing less in value 
than specie ? Mr. W. thought, therefore, that the notes proposed 
by the committee were better than those recommended by the 
Secretary. He was in favor of that system which would put the 
public creditor in no such selection as between paper and nothing- 
VOL. III. 25 Q^ 



194 



In answer to Mr. Bcchanak, 



Mr. Webster, having obtained and examined the act of 1815^ 
said : The honorable member from Pennsylvania has been kind 
enough to say that I do not often get into difficulties in debate, and 
that when I do, I generally extricate myself better than I have done 
on the present occasion. He partakes in the supposed triumph of 
his friend from New York, (Mr. Wright,) in having proved me 
incorrect when I said that this Government had never issued such 
paper money as the Secretary has now recommended. Now, sir, 
although I am pleased to see the happiness which the gentleman 
enjoys, yet I believe 1 must dash it a little. Most assuredly, sir, it 
authorizes no such paper as is now proposed. I was persuaded it 
could not, as I have a pretty good recollection of the proceedings 
of Congress on such subjects at that time. 

The law of 1815 authorized the issue of two classes of Treasury 
notes : 1st, such as bore no interest, but which, the very hour they 
were issued, might be funded in a seven per cent, stock, to be re- 
deemed like other stocks of the Government. 2d. Treasury notes 
bearing an interest of five and two-fifths per cent, capable of being 
funded in like manner, in a six per cent, stock. These stocks were 
to be issued on application by any commissioner of the revenue in 
any State. Now, what comparison is there between either of these 
classes of Treasury notes and those recommended by the Secretary, 
which bear no interest, and for which no fixed redemption is 
provided ? 

1 affirm again, therefore, sir, all that I have said, namely, that 
the notes recommended by the Treasury are regular paper issues, 
like the old emissions of Congress and the States before the adoption 
of the present Constitution, and that no precedent has been found 
for them, and I am sure none can be found, in the practice of this 
Government. 



I 



SPEECH 

ON THE CURRENCY, AND ON THE NEW PLAN FOR COLLECTING 
AND KEEPING THE PUBLIC MONEYS. DELIVERED IN THE 
SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, SEPTEMBER 28, 1837. 



Mr- President : 1 am opposed to the doctrines of the Message, 
to the bill, and to the amendment of the member from South Car- 
olina, [Mr. Calhoun.] In all these, I see nothing for the relief 
of the country ; but I do see, as I think, a question involved, the 
importance of which transcends all the interest of the present 
occasion. 

It is my purpose to state that question ; to present it, as well to 
the country as to the Senate; to show the length and breadth of it, 
as a question of practical politics, and in its bearing on the powers 
of the Government ; to exhibit its importance, and to express my 
own opinions in regard to it. 

A short recital of events and occurrences will show how this 
question has arisen. 

The Government of the United States completed the forty-eighth 
year of its existence, under the present constitution, on the third 
day of March last. During this whole period, it has felt itself 
bound to take proper care of the currency of the country ; and no 
administration has admitted this obligation more clearly or more 
frequently than the last. For the fulfilment of this acknowledged 
duty, as well as to accomplish other useful purposes, a National Bank 
lias been maintained for forty, out of these forty-eight years. Two 
institutions of this kind have been created by law ; one, commencing 
in 1791, and limited to twenty years, and expiring, therefore, in 
1811 ; the other, commencing in 1816, with a like term of duration, 
and ending, therefore, in 1836. Both these institutions, each in its 
time, accomplished their purposes, so far as currency was concerned, 
to the general satisfaction of the country. But before the last bank 
expired, it had the misfortune to become obnoxious to the late ad- 
ministration. I need not, at present, speak of the causes of this hos- 
tility. My purpose only requires a statement of that fact, as an im- 
portant one in the chain of occurrences. The late President's dis- 
satisfaction of the bank was intimated in his first annual Message, 
that is to say, in 1829. But the bank stood very well with the 
country, the President's known and growing hostility notwithstand- 



195 



196 

ing; and In 1832, four years before its cliarter was to expire, both 
Houses of Congress passed a bill for its continuance ; there being in 
its favor a large majority of the Senate, and a larger majority of the 
House of Representatives. The bill, however, was negatived by 
the President. In 1833, by an order of the President, the public 
moneys were removed from the custody of the bank, and were de- 
posited with certain selected State banks. This removal was ac- 
companied with the most confident declarations and assurances, put 
forth in every form, by the President and the Secretary of the 
Treasury, that these State banks would not only prove safe depos- 
itories of the public money, but that they would also furnish the 
country with as good a currency as it ever had enjoyed, and [)robabIy 
a better; and would also accomplish all that could be wished, in 
regard to domestic exchanges. The substitution of State banks for 
a national institution, for the discharge of these duties, was that 
operation, which has become known, and is likely to be long 
remembered, as the " Experiment." 

For some years, all was said to go on extremely well, although it 
seemed plain enough to a great part of the community that the sys- 
tem was radically vicious ; that its operations were all inconvenient, 
clumsy, and wholly inadequate to the proposed ends ; and that, 
sooner or later, there must be an explosion. The administration, 
however, adhered to its experiment. The more it was complained 
of, the louder it was praised. Its commendation was one of the 
standing topics of all official communications ; and in his last mes- 
sage, in December, 1836, the late President was more than usually 
emphatic upon the great success of his attempts to improve the 
currency, and the happy results of the experiment upon the 
important business of exchange. But a reverse was at hand. The 
ripening glories of the experiment were soon to meet a dreadful 
blighting. In the early part of May last, these banks all stopped 
payment. This event, of course, produced great distress in the 
country, and it produced also singular embarrassment to the 
administration. 

The present administration was then only two months old ; but 
it had already become formally pledged to maintain the policy of that 
which had gone before it. The President had avowed his purpose 
of treading in the footsteps of his predecessor. Here, then, was 
difficulty. Here was a political knot, to be either untied or cut. 
The experiment had failed, and failed, as it was thought, so utterly 
and hopelessly, that it could not be tried again. 

What, then, was to be done ? Committed against a Bank of the 
United States in the strongest manner, and the substitute, from 
which so much was expected, having disappointed all hopes, what 
was the administration to do ? Two distinct classes of duties had 
been performed, in times past, by the Bank of the United States ; 



197 

one more Immediately to the Government, the other to the com- 
munity. The first was the safe-keeping and the transfer, when 
requued, of the pubhc moneys ; the other, the supplying of a sound 
and convenient paper currency, of equal credit all over the country, 
and every where equivalent to specie, and the giving of most im- 
portant facilities to the operations of exchange. These objects 
were highly important, and their most perfect accomplishment by 
the experiment had been promised, from tlie first. The State banks, 
it was declared, could perform all these duties, and should perform 
them. But the " experiment " came to a dishonored end in the early 
part of May. The deposit banks, w ith the others, stopped pay- 
ment. They could not render back the deposits ; and so far from 
being able to furnish a general currency, or to assist exchanges, 
(purposes, indeed, w hich they never had fulfilled, with any success,) 
then- paper became immediately depreciated, even in its local 
circulation. What course, then, was the administration now to 
adopt? Why, sir, it is plain, that it had but one alternative. It 
must either return to the former practice of the Government, take 
the currency into its own hands, and maintain it, as well as provide 
for the safe-keeping of the public money by some institution of its 
own ; or else, adopting some new mode of merely keeping the 
public money, it must abandon all further care over currency and 
exchange. One of these courses became inevitable. The adminis- 
tration had no other choice. The State banks could be tried no 
more, with the opinion which the administration bow entertained of 
them ; and how else could any thing be done to maintain the 
currency? In no way, but by the establisJiment of a national 
institution. 

There was no escape from this dilemma. One course was, to 
go back to that which the party had so much condemned ; the 
other, to give up the whole duty, and leave the currency to its fate. 
Between these two, the administration found itself absolutely 
obliged to decide; and it has decided, and decided boldly. It was 
decided to surrender the duty, and abandon the constitution. That 
decision is before us, in the Message, and in the measures now 
under consideration. The choice has been made ; and that choice, 
in my opinion, raises a question of the utmost importance to the 
people of this country, both for the present and all future time. 
That question is, whether Congress has, or ought to have, 

ANY DUTY to PERFORM IN RELATION TO THE CURRENCY OF THE 
COUNTRY, BEYOND THE MERE REGULATION OF THE GOLD AND 
SILVER COIN. 

Mr. President, the honorable member from South Carolina re- 
marked, the other day, with great frankness and good-humor, that 
in the political classifications of the times, he desired to be consid- 
ered as nothing but an honest nullifier. That, he said, was his 



198 

character. I believe, sir, the country will readily concede that 
character to the honorable gentleman. For one, certainly, I am 
willing to say, that 1 believe him a very honest and a very 
sincere nullifier, using the term in the same sense in which he 
used it himself, and in which he meant to apply it to himself. 
And I am very much afraid, sir, that (whatever he may think of it 
himself) it has been under the influence of those sentiments, which 
belong to his character as a nullifier, that he has so readily and so 
zealously embraced the doctrines of the President's Message. In 
my opinion, the Message, the bill before us, and the honorable mem- 
ber's amendment, form, together, a system, a code of practical 
politics, the direct tendency of which is to nullify and expunge, or, 
perhaps, more correctly speaking, by a united and mixed process 
of nullification and expunging, to abolish, a highly-important and 
useful power of the Government. It strikes down the principle 
upon which the Government has been administered, in regard to 
the subject of the currency, through its whole history; and it seeks 
to obliterate, or to draw black lines around, that part of the Consti- 
tution on which this principle of administration has rested. The 
system proposed, in my opinion, is not only anti-commercial, but 
anti-constitutional also, and anti-union, in a high degree. 

You will say, sir, that this is a strong way of stating an opinion. 
It is so. I mean to state the opinion in the strongest manner. 
I do not wish, indeed, at every turn, to say, of measures which I 
oppose, that theyeither violate or surrender the Constitution. But 
when, in all soberness and candor, I do so think, in all soberness 
and candor I must so speak ; and whether the opinion which I 
have now expressed be true, let the sequel decide. 

Now, sir. Congress has been called together in a moment of 
great difficulty. The characteristic of the crisis is commercial dis- 
tress. We are not suffering from war, or pestilence, or famine ; 
and it is alleged, by tl^e President and Secretary, that there is no 
want of revenue. Our means, it is averred, are abundant. And 
yet the Government is in distress, and the country is in distress ; 
and Congress is assembled, by a call of the President, to provide 
relief. The immediate and direct cause of all is, derangement of the 
currency and the exchanges ; commercial credit is gone, and prop- 
erty no longer answers the common ends and purposes of property. 
Government cannot use its own means, and individuals are alike 
unable to command their own resources. The operations, both of 
Government and people, are obstructed ; and they are obstructed, 
because the money of the country, the great instrument of com- 
merce and exchange, has become disordered and useless. The 
Government has funds ; that is to say, it has credits in the banks, 
but it cannot turn these credits into cash ; and individual citizens 
are as bad off as Government. The Government is a great creditor 



199 

and a great debtor. It collects and It disburses large sums. In 
the loss, therefore, of a proper medium of payment and receipt, 
Government is a sufferer. But the people are sufferers from the 
same causes ; and inasnmch as the whole amount of payments and 
receipts by the people, in their individual transactions, is many times 
greater than the amount of payments and receipts by Government, 
the aggregate of evil suffered by the people is also many times 
greater than that suffered by Government. Individuals have means 
as ample, in proportion to their wants, as Government ; but they 
share with Government the common calamity arising from the over- 
throw of the currency. The honorable member from Mississippi 
[Mr. Walker] has stated, or has quoted the statement from others, 
that while the payments and receipts of Government are twenty 
millions a year, the payments and receipts of individuals are two or 
three hundred millions. He has, I think, underrated the amount of 
individual payments and receipts. But even if he has not, the 
statement shows how little a part of the whole evil falls on Govern- 
ment. The great mass of suffering is on the people. 

Now^, sir, when we look at the Message, the bill, and the proposed 
amendment, their single, exclusive, and undivided object is found 
to be, relief to the Government. Not one single provision is 
adopted or recommended, with direct reference to the relief of the 
people. They all speak of revenue, of finance, of duties and 
customs, of taxes and collecdons ; and the evils which the people 
suffer, by the derangement of the currency and the exchanges, and 
the breaking up of commercial credit, instead of being put forth as 
prominent and leading objects of regard, are dismissed with a slight 
intimation, here and there, that in providing for the superior and 
paramount interests of Government, some incidental or collateral 
benefits may, perhaps, accrue to the community. But is Govern- 
ment, I ask, to care for nothing but itself? Is self-prcservaUon the 
great end of Government ? Has it no trust powers ? Does it owe 
no duties, but to itself? If it keeps itself in being, does it fulfil all 
the objects of its creation ? I think not. I think Government 
exists, not for its own ends, but for the public utility. It is an 
agency, established to promote the common good, by common coun- 
sels ; its chief duties are to the people ; and it seems to ine strange 
and preposterous, in a moment of great and general distress, that 
Government should confine all its deliberations to the single object 
of its own revenues, its own convenience, its own undisturbed 
administration. 

I cannot say, sir, that I was surprised to see this general character 
impressed on the face of the Message. I confess it appeared to me, 
when the banks stopped payment, that the administration luul con)e 
to a pass in which it was unavoidable that it should take some 
such course. But that necessity was imposed, not by the nature of 



200 

the crisis, but by its own commitment to the line of politics which 
its predecessor had adopted, and which it had pledged itself to 
pursue. 

It withdraws its care from the currency, because it has left itself 
no means of performing its own duties, connected with that subject. 
It has, voluntarily and on calculation, discarded and renounced the 
policy which has been approved for half a century, because it could 
not return to that policy w ithout admitting its own inconsistency, 
and violating its party pledges. This is the truth of the whole 
matter. 

Now, sir, my present purpose chiefly is, to maintain two propo- 
sitions — 

I. That it is the constitutional duty of this Government to see 
that a proper currency, suitable to the circumstances of the times, 
and to the wants of trade and business, as well as to the payment 
of debts due to Government, be maintained and preserved ; a cur- 
rency of general credit, and capable of aiding the operations of ex- 
change, so far as those operations may be conducted by means of the 
circulating medium ; and that there are duties, therefore, devolving 
on Congress, in relation to currency, beyond the mere regulation of 
the gold and silver coins. 

II. That the jMessage, the bill, and the proposed amendment, all, 
in effect, deny any such duty, disclaim all such power, and confine 
the constitutional obligation of Government to the mere regulation 
of the coins, and the care of its own revenues. 

I have well weighed, Mr. President, and fully considered, the 
first of these propositions ; to wit, that which respects the duty of 
this Government, in regard to the currency. I mean to stand by 
it. It expresses, in my judgment, a principle fully sustained by 
the Constitution, and by the usage of the Government, and which is 
of the highest practical importance. With this proposition, or this 
principle, I am willing to stand connected, and to share In the judg- 
ment which the community shall ultimately pronounce upon it. 
If the country shall sustain it, and be ready, in due time, to carry 
it into effect, by such means and instruments as the general opinion 
shall think best to adopt, I shall cooperate, cheerfully, in any such 
undertaking ; and shall look again, with confidence, to prosperity In 
this branch of our national concerns. On the other hand. If the 
country shall reject this proposition, and act on that rejection ; if it 
shall decide that Congress has no power, nor is under any duty, in 
relation to the currency, beyond the mere regulation of the coins ; 
then, upon that construction of the powers and duties of Congress, 
I am willing to acknowledge that I do not feel myself competent 
to render any substantial service to the public councils, on these 
great interests. I admit, at once, that if the currency is not to be 
preserved by the Government of the United States, I know not 



. 201 

how it is to be guarded against constantly occurring disorders and 
derangements. 

Before entering into the discussion of the grounds of this propo- 
sition, however, allow me, sir, a few words by way of preliminary 
explanation. In the first place, I wish it to be observed, that I am 
now contending only for the general principle, and not insisting 
either on the constitutionality, or expediency, of any particular 
means, or any particular agent. 1 am not saying by what instrument 
or agent Congress ought to perform this duty ; I only say it is a 
duty, which, in some mode, and by some means, Congress is bound 
to perform. In the next place, let it be remembered, that I carry 
the absolute duty of Government, in regard to exchange, no farther 
than the operations of exchange may be performed by currency. No 
doubt, sir, a proper institution, established by Government, might, 
as heretofore, give other facilities to exchange, of great importance, 
and to a very great extent. But I intend, on this occasion, to keep 
clearly within the Constitution, and to assign no duty to Congress, 
not plainly enjoined by the provisions of that instrument, as fairly 
interpreted, and as heretofore understood. 

The President says, it is not the province of Government to aid 
individuals in the transfer of their funds, otherwise than by the use 
of the post-office ; and that it might as justly be called on to provide 
for the transportation of their merchandise. 

Now, I beg leave to say, sir, with all respect and deference, that 
funds are transferred from individual to individual, usually for the 
direct purpose of the payment and receipt of debts ; that payment 
and receipt are duties of currency ; that, in my opinion, currency is 
a thing which Government is bound to provide for and superintend ; 
that the case, therefore, has not the slightest resemblance to the 
transportation of merchandise, because the transportation of mer- 
chandise is carried on by ships and boats, by carts and wagons, and 
not by the use of currency, or of any thing else over which Govern 
meut has usually exclusive control. These things individuals can 
provide for themselves. But the transfer of funds is done by credit, 
and must be so done ; and some proper medium for this transfer it 
is the duty of Government to provide, because it belongs to cur- 
rency, to money, and is therefore beyond the power of individuals. 

The nature ofexchange,sir,is well understood by persons engaged 
in commerce; but as Its operations are a little out of the sight of 
other classes of the community, although they have all a deep and 
permanent interest in the subject, I may be pardoned for a word or 
two of general explanation. 1 speak of domestic exchanges only. 
We mean, then, by exchange, this same transfer of funds. We 
mean the making of payment in a distant place, or the receiving of 
payment from a distant place, by some mode of paper credits. 
if done by draft, order, or bill of exchange, that is one form ; if 
VOL. 111. 26 



202 

done by the transmission of bank notes, through the post-office, or 
otherwise, that is another form. In each, credit is used ; in the 
first, the credit of the parties whose names are on the bill or draft ; 
in the last, the credit of the bank. Every man, sir, who looks over 
this vast country, and contemplates the commercial connection of 
its various parts, must see the great importance that this exchange 
should be cheap and easy. To the producer and to the consumer, 
to the manufacturer and the planter, to the merchant, to all, in all 
classes, this becomes matter of moment. We may see an instance 
in the common articles of manufacture produced in the north, and 
sent to the south and west for sale and consumption. Hats, shoes, 
furniture, carriages, domestic hard-ware, and various other articles, 
the produce of those manufactories, and of those employments 
which are carried on without the aid of large capital, constitute a 
large part of this trade, as well as the fabrics of cotton and wool. 
Now, a state of exchange, which shall enable the producers to re- 
ceive payment regularly, and without loss, is indispensable to any 
useful prosecution of this intercourse. Derangement of currency 
and exchange is ruinous. The notes of local banks will not answer 
the purpose of remittance ; and if bills of exchange cannot be had, 
or can be had only at a high rate, how is payment to be received, 
or to be received without great loss ? This evil was severely felt, 
even before the suspension of specie payment by the banks ; and it 
will always be felt, more or less, till there is a currency of general 
credit and circulation through the country. But vi hen the banks 
suspended, it became overwhelming. All gentlemen having north- 
ern acquaintance, must know the existence of this evil. 1 have 
heard it said, that the hitherto prosperous and flourishing town of 
Newark has already lost a considerable part of its population by the 
breaking up of its business, in consequence of these commercial 
embarrassments. And in cases in which business is not wholly 
broken up, if five or six per cent., or more, is to be paid for exchange, 
it by so much enhances the cost to the consumer, or takes away his 
profit from the producer. I have mentioned these articles of com- 
mon product of northern labor ; but the same evil exists in all the 
sales of imported goods ; and it must exist, also, in the south, in the 
operations connected with its great staples. All the south must 
have, and has, constant occasion for remittance by exchange ; and 
no part of the country is likely to suffer more severely by its 
derangement. In short, there can be no satisfactory state of internal 
trade, when there is neither cheapness, nor promptness, nor regular- 
ity, nor security, in the domestic exchanges. 

I say again, sir, that 1 do not hold Government bound to provide 
bills of exchange, for purchase and sale. Nobody thinks of such a 
thing. If any institution established by Government can do this, 
as might be the case, and has been the case, so much the better. 



203 

But the positive obligation of Government I am content to limit to 
currency, and, so far as exchange is concerned, to the aid which 
may be afforded to exchange by currency. 1 have been informed 
that, a few years ago, before the charter of the late bank expired, 
at those seasons of the year when southern and western merchants 
usually visit the northern cities to make purchases, or make pay- 
ment for existing liabilities, that bank redeemed its notes to the 
amount of fifty or even a hundred tliousand dollars a day. These 
notes, having been issued in the west, were brought over the moun- 
tains, as funds to be used in the eastern cities. This was exchange ; 
and it was exchange through the medium of currency ; it was 
perfectly safe, and it cost nothing. This fact illustrates the impor- 
tance of a currency of universal credit, to the business of exchange. 

Having made these remarks, for the purpose of explaining 
exchange, and showing its connection with currency, I proceed to 
discuss the general propositions. 

Is it the duty, then, of this Government, to see that a currency 
be maintained, suited to the circumstances of the times, and to the 
uses of trade and commerce ? 

I need not, sir, on this occasion, enter historically into the well- 
known causes, which led to the adoption of the present Constitution. 
Those causes are familiar to all public men ; and among them, 
certainly, was this very matter of giving credit and uniformity to 
the money system of the country. The States possessed no system 
of money and circulation ; and that was among the causes of the 
.stagnation of commerce. Indeed, all commercial affairs were in a 
disjointed, deranged, and miserable state. The restoration of com- 
merce, the object of giving it uniformity, credit, and national 
character, were among the first incentives to a more perfect union 
of the States. We all know that the meeting at Annapolis, in 
1786, sprang from a desire to attempt something which should give 
uniformity to the commercial operations of the several States ; and 
that in and with this meeting, arose the proposition for a general 
convention, to consider of a new constitution of government. 
Every where, State currencies were depreciated, and continental 
money was depreciated also. Debts could not be paid, and there 
was no value to property. From the close of the war to the time 
of the adoption of this Constitution, as I verily believe, the people 
suffered as much, except in the loss of life, from the disordered state 
of the currency and the prostration of commerce and business, as 
they suffered during the war. AH our history shows the disasters 
and afflictions which sprang from these sources ; and it would be 
waste of time to go into a detailed recital of them. For the remedy 
of these evils, as one of its great objects, and as great as any one, 
the Constitution was formed and adopted. 

Now, sir, by this Constitution, Congress is authorized to " coin 



204 

money, to regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coins ; " and all 
the States are prohibited from coining money, and from making any 
thing but gold and silver coins a tender in payment of debts. 
Suppose the Constitution had stopped here, it would still have 
established the all-important point of a uniform money system. 
By this provision Congress is to furnish coin, or regulate coin, for 
all the States, There is to be but one money-standard for the 
country. And the standard of value to be established by Congress 
is to be a currency, and not bullion merely ; because we find it is 
to be coin; that is, it is to be one or the other of the precious 
metals, bearing an authentic stamp of value, and passing therefore 
by tale. That is to be the standard of value. A standard of 
value, therefore, and a money for circulation, were thus expressly 
provided for. And if nothing else had been done, would it not 
have been a reasonable and necessary inference from this power, 
that Congress had authority to regulate, and must regulate and 
control, any and all paper, which either States or individuals might 
desire to put into circulation, purporting to represent this coin, and 
to take its place, in the uses of trade and commerce ? It is very 
evident that the Constitution intended something more than to pro- 
vide a medium for the payment of debts to Government. The 
object was a uniform currency for the use of the whole people, in 
all the transactions of life ; and it was manifestly the intent of the 
Constitution, that the power to maintain such a currency should be 
given to Congress. But it would make the system incongruous and 
incomplete ; it would be denying to Congress the means necessary 
to accomplish ends which were manifestly intended ; it would 
render the whole provision in a great measure nugatory, if, when 
Congress had established a coin for currency and circulation, it 
should have no power to maintain it as an actual circulation, nor to 
regulate or control paper emissions designed to occupy its place, 
and perform the same functions that it would on the coinage power 
alone ; and on a fair, and just, and reasonable inference from it, 
therefore, I should be of opinion that Congress was authorized, and 
was bound, to protect the community against all evils which might 
threaten from a deluge of currency of another kind, filling up, in point 
of fact, all the channels of circulation. And this opinion is not new. 
It has often been expressed before, and was cogently urged by 
Mr. Dallas, the Secretary of the Treasury, in his report in 1816. 
He says, " Whenever the emergency occurs, that demands a change 
of system, it seems necessarily to follow, that the authority, which 
was alone competent to establish the national coin, is alone compe- 
tent to create a national substitute." 

But the Constitution does not stop with this grant of the coinage 
power to Congress. It expressly prohibits the States from issuing 
bills of credit. What a bill of credit is, there can be no difficulty 



205 

in understanding, by any one acquainted with the history of the 
country. Tliey liad been issued, at different times, and in various 
forms, by the State Governments. The object of them was to 
create a paper circulation ; and any paper, issued on the credit of 
the State, and intended for circulation from hand to hand, is a bill 
of credit, whether made a tender for debts or not, or whether carry- 
ing interest or not. Is it issued with intent that it shall circulate 
from hand to hand, as money, and with intent that it shall so circu- 
late on the credit of the State ? If it is, it is a bill of credit. 
The States, therefore, are prohibited from issuing paper for 
circulation, on their own credit; and this provision furnishes ad- 
ditional and strong proof, that all circulation, whether of coin or 
paper, was intended to be subject to the regulation and control of 
Congress. Indeed, the very object of establishing one commerce for 
all the States, and one money for all the States, would otherwise be 
liable to be completely defeated. It has been supposed, neverthe- 
less, that this proliibition on the States has not restrained them from 
granting to individuals, or to private corporations, the power of issu- 
ing notes for circulation, on their own credit. This power has long 
been exercised, and is admitted to exist. But could it be reason- 
ably maintained, looking only to these two provisions, (that is to say, 
to the coinage power, which is vested exclusively in Congress, and 
to tlie proliibition on the States against issuing their own paper for 
circulation,) that Congress could not protect its own power, and 
secure to the people the full benefits intended by and for them 
against evils and mischiefs, if they should arise, or threaten to arise, 
not from paper issued by States, but from paper issued by individ- 
uals or private corporations ? If this be so, then the coinage power 
evidently fails of a great part of its intended effect ; and the evils^ 
intended to be prevented by the prohibitions on the States, may 
all arise, and become irresistible and overwhelming in another form. 
But the Message intimates a doubt whether this power over the 
coin was given to Congress to preserve the people from the evils 
of paper money, or only given to protect the Government itself. 
I cannot but think this very remarkable and very strange. The 
language of the President is, " There can be no doubt that those who 
framed and adopted the Constitution, having in immediate view the 
depreciated paper of the Confederacy, of which five hundred dol- 
lars in paper were at times equal to only one dollar in coin, 
intended to prevent the recurrence of similtir evils, so far at least as 
related to the transactions of the new Government." Where is the 
foundation for the qualijication here expressed ? On what clause, 
or construction of any clause, is it founded? Will any gentleman 
tell me what there is in the Constitution which led the President, or 
which could lead any man, to doubt whether it was the purpose of 
that instrument to protect the people, as well as the Government, 

R 



206 

against the overwhelming evils of paper money ? Is there a word 
or particle in the coinage power, or any other power, which 
countenances the notion that the Constitution intended that there 
should be one money for the Government, and another for the peo- 
ple ; that Government should have the means of protecting its own 
revenues against depreciated paper, but should be still at liberty to 
suffer all the evils of such paper to fall with full weight upon the 
people ? This is altogether a new doubt. It intimates an opinion, 
which, so far as it shall find those who are ready to adopt and follow 
it, will sap and undermine one of the most indispensable powers of 
the Government. The coinage power is given to Congress in 
general terms ; it is altogether denied to the States ; and the States 
are prohibited from issuing bills of credit for any purpose whatever, 
or of any character whatever. Can any man hesitate one moment 
to say that these provisions are all intended for the general good of 
the people ? I am therefore surprised at the language of the Mes- 
sage in this particular, and utterly at a loss to know what should 
have led to it, except the apparent and foregone conclusion and 
purpose, of attempting to justify Congress in the course which was 
about to be recommended to it, of abstaining altogether from every 
endeavor to improve or maintain the currency, except so far as the 
receipts and payments of the Government itself were concerned. I 
repeat, sir, that I should be obliged to any friend of the administra- 
tion, who would suggest to me on what ground this doubt, never 
expressed before, and now so solemnly and gravely intimated, is 
supposed to stand. Is it, indeed, uncertain, is it matter of grave 
and solemn doubt, whether the coinage power itself, so fully granted 
to Congress, and so carefully guarded by restraints upon the States, 
had any further object than to enable Congress to furnish a medium 
in which taxes might be collected ? 

But this power over the coinage is not the strongest, nor the 
broadest, ground on which to place the duty of Congress. There 
is another power granted to Congress, which seems to me to apply 
to this case, directly and irresistibly, and that is the commercial 
power. The Constitution declares that Congress shall have power 
to regulate commerce, not only with foreign nations, hut bctiveen the 
States. This is a full and complete grant, and must include author- 
ity over every thing which is part of commerce, or essential to 
commerce. And is not money essential to commerce ? No man, 
in his senses, can deny that ; and it is equally clear, that whatever 
paper is put forth, with intent to circulate as currency, or to be used 
as money, immediately affects commerce. Bank notes, in a strict 
and technical sense, are not, indeed, money ; but, in a general 
sense, and often in a legal sense, they are money. They are sub- 
stantially money, because they perform the functions of money. 
They are not, like bills of exchange or common promissory notes; 



207 

mere proofs or evidences of debt, but are treated as money, in the 
general transactions of society.) If receipts be given for them, they 
are given as for money. They pass under a legacy, or other form 
of gift, as money. And this character of bank notes was as well 
known and understood at the time of the adoption of the Constitution 
as it is now. The law, both of England and America, regarded 
them as money, in the sense above expressed. If Congress, then, has 
power to regulate commerce, it must have a control over that money, 
Avhatever it may be, by which commerce is actually carried om 
Whether that money be coin or paper, or however it has acquired 
the character of money or currency, if, in fact, it has become an 
actual agent or instrument in the performance of commercial trans- 
actions, it necessarily thereby becomes subject to the regulation 
and control of Congress. The regulation of money is not so much 
an inference from the commercial power conferred on Congress, as 
it is a part of it. Money is one of the things, without which, in 
modern times, we can form no practical idea of commerce. It is 
embraced, therefore, necessarily, in the terms of the Constitution. 

But, sir, as will be seen by the proposition which I have stated, 
I go further ; I insist that the duty of Congress is commensurate 
with its power ; that it has authority not only to regulate and con- 
trol that, which others may put forth as money and currency, but 
that it has the power, and is bound to perform the duty, of seeing 
that there is established and maintained, at all times, a currency of 
general credit, equivalent in value to specie, adapted to the wants 
of commerce and the business of the people, and suited to the 
existing circumstances of the country. Such a currency is an in- 
strument of the first necessity to commerce, according to the com- 
mercial system of the present age ; and commerce cannot be 
conducted, with full advantage, without it. It is in the power of 
Congress to furnish it, and it is in the power of nobody else. The 
States cannot supply it. That resource has often been tried, and 
has always failed. I am no enemy to the State banks ; they may 
be very useful in their spheres ; but you can no more cause them to 
perform the duties of a national institution, than you can turn a 
satellite into a primary orb. They cannot maintain a currency of 
equal credit all over the country. It might be tried, sir, in your 
State of Kentucky, or our State of Massachusetts. We may erect 
banks on all the securities wliich the wit of man can devise ; we 
ir)ay have capital, we may have funds, we may have bonds and 
mortgages, we may add the faith of the State, we may pile Pelion 
upon Ossa ; they will be State institutions after all, and will not be 
able to support a national circulation. This is inherent in the nature 
of things, and in the sentiments of men. It is in vain to argue that it 
ought not to be so, or to contend that one bank may be as safe as 



208 

another. Experience proves that it is so, and we may be assured 
it will remain so. 

Sir, mine is not the ruthless hand that shall strike at the State 
banks, nor mine the tongue that shall causelessly upbraid them w ith 
treachery or perfidy. I admit their lawful existence ; I admit their 
utility in the circle to which they properly belong. I only say, 
they cannot perform a national part in the operations of conmierce. 
A general and universally accredited currency, therefore, is an 
instrument of commerce, which is necessary to the enjoyment of its 
just advantages, or, in other words, which is essential to its benefi- 
cial regulation. Congress has power to est>>blish it, and no other 
power can establish it ; and therefore Congress is bound to exercise 
its own power. It is an absurdity, on the very face of the proposi- 
tion, to allege that Congress shall regulate commerce, but shall, 
nevertheless, abandon to others the duty of maintaining and 
regulating its essential means and instruments. We have in actual 
use a mixed currency ; the coin circulating under the authority of 
Congress, the paper under the authority of the States. But this 
paper, though it fills so great a portion of all the channels of circu- 
lation, is not of general and universal credit; it is made up of 
various local currencies, none of which has the same credit, or the 
same value, in all parts of the country ; and therefore these local 
currencies answer, but very loosely and deficiently, the purposes 
of general currency, and of remittance. Now, is it to be con- 
tended that there is no remedy for this ? Are we to agree, that 
the Constitution, with all its care, circumspection, and wisdom, has, 
nevertheless, left this great interest unprovided for ? Is our com- 
mercial system so lame and impotent? Are our constitutional 
provisions and our political institutions so radically defective? I 
think not, sir. They do not deserve this reproach ; and I think it 
may now be easily shown that, underall administrations, from General 
Washington's time down to the 3d of March last, the Government 
has felt and acknowledged its obligation, in regard to the currency, 
to the full extent in which I have stated it, and has constantly en- 
deavored to fulfil that obligation. Allow me to go back to the 
beginning, and trace this matter down to our times, a little in detail. 

In his first speech to Congress, in 1789, having just then assumed 
his new office, General Washington recommended no particular 
subjects to the consideration of Congress ; but in his speech, at the 
opening of the second session, he suggested the importance of a 
uniform currency, without distinguishing coinage from paper ; and 
this body, in its answer, assured him that it was a subject which 
should receive its attention. Recollect, sir, at that time, that there 
were State banks having notes in circulation, though they were 
verv few. The first Bank of the United States was established at 



209 

ihe third session of the Congress, in 1791. The bill for its creation 
originated in the Senate ; the debates in which were at that time 
not public. We have, however, the debates in the House, we have 
the reports of the Secretaries, and we have the law itself. Let us en- 
deavor to learn, from these sources,ybr what objects this institution was 
created, and tvhether a national currency ivas one of those objects. 

Certainly, sir, it must be admitted that currency was not the only 
object in incorporating the bank of 1791. The Government was 
new ; its fiscal affairs were not well arranged ; it was greatly in debt; 
and the political state of things at the time rendered it highly prob- 
able that sudden occasions for making loans would arise. That it 
might assist the operations of the Treasury, therefore, and that it 
miglit make those loans to Government, if pressing occasions should 
arise, were two of the purposes had in view in establishing the bank. 
But it is equally clear that there was a third purpose, and that re- 
spected commerce and currency. To furnish a currency for gen- 
eral circulation, and to aid exchange, xoas, demonstrably, a clear., 
distinct, and avowed object, in the creation of the first bank. 

On the 13th of December, 1790, the Secretary of the Treasury 
made a report to the House of Representatives, recommending a 
national bank. In this report, he set forth the advantages of such 
an institution ; one of these advantages, he says, consists " in in- 
creasing the quantity of circulating medium, and quickening the 
circulation." And he then proceeds to observe — " This last may 
require some illustration. When payments are to be made be- 
tween different places, having an intercourse of business with each 
other, if there happen to be no private bills at market, and there 
are no bank notes which have a currency in both, the consequence 
is, that coin must be remitted. This is attended with trouble, 
delay, expense, and risk. If, on the contrary, there are bank notes 
current in both places, the transmission of these, by the post, or 
any other speedy or convenient conveyance, answers the purpose ; 
and these again, in the alternations of demand, are frequently re- 
turned, very soon after, to the place whence they were first sent ; 
whence the transportation and retransportation of the metals are 
obviated, and a more convenient and a more expeditious medium 
of payment is substituted." 

Is not this clear proof, that one object, in establishing the bank, 
in the opinion of the Secretary, was the creation of a currency 
which should have general credit throughout the country, and, by 
means of such credit, should become a convenient and expeditious 
medium of exchange ? Currency, sir, currency and exchange were 
then, beyond all doubt, important objects, in the opinion of the pro- 
poser of the measure, to be accomplished by the institution. The 
debates which took place in the House of Representatives, confirm 
the same idea. Mr. Madison, who objected to the bill on constitu- 

VOL. III. 27 B* 



210 

tional grounds, admitted, nevertheless, that one of the advantages 
of a bank consists " in facilitating occasional remittances from differ- 
ent places where notes happen to circulate;" and Mr. Ames, who 
was one of the most distinguished friends of the measure, and who 
represented a commercial district, enlarged on the great benefit of 
the proposed institution to commerce. He insisted that the inter- 
course between the States could never be on a good footing, without 
an institution whose paper would circulate more extensively than 
that of any State bank ; and what he saw in the future, we have 
seen in the past, and feel in the present. Other gendemen, also, 
contended that some such institution was necessary, in order to 
enable Congress to regulate the commerce of the country, and, for 
that reason, that it would be constitutional, as being proper means 
for a lawful end. 

When the bill had passed the two Houses, the President, as we 
all know, asked the opinion of his cabinet upon its constitutionality. 
The Secretary of State and the Attorney General were against 
it ; the Secretary of the Treasury was in favor of it ; and among 
the grounds on which he placed the right of Congress to pass the 
law, was its adaptation to the exercise of the commercial power, 
conferred by the Constitution on Congress. His language is — " The 
institution of a bank has, also, a natural relation to the regulation of 
trade between the States, in so far as it is conducive to the creation 
of a convenient medium of exchange between them, and to the 
keeping up a full circulation, by preventing the frequent displace- 
ment of the metals in reciprocal remittances. Money is the very 
hinge on which commerce turns. And this does not mean merely 
gold and silver; many other things have served the purpose, with 
different degrees of utility. Paper has been extensively employed. 
It cannot, therefore, be admitted, with the Attorney General, that 
the regulation of trade between the States, as it concerns the me- 
dium of circulation and exchange, ought to be considered as confined 
to coin." " And it is," he adds, " in reference to these general rela- 
tions of commerce, that an establishment which furnishes facilities 
to circulation, and a convenient medium of exchange and alienation, 
is to be regarded as a regulation of trade." 

Nothing can be plainer, sir, than this language ; and therefore 
notliin<r is more certain than that those who recommended and 
supported the first bank, regarded it as a fit and necessary measure, 
in order to enable Congress to exercise its important duty of regula- 
ting commerce, and to fulfil, especially, that part of the duty which 
enjoined upon it the provision of a proper and suitable currency for 
circulation and exchange. 

But it is not necessary to rely on these opinions of individual 
friends of the measure. Let the act speak for itself. Let us look 
into it, and search its reasons on its own face. What are the 



211 , 

grounds and objects of the law, as set forth In the law itself? The 
preamble tells us. It declares — 

" That the establishing of a bank will be very conducive to the 
successful conducting of the national finances ; and will tend to 
give facility to the obtaining of loans, for the use of Government, in 
sudden emergencies ; and will be productive of considerable ad- 
vantage to trade and industry in general^ 

Trade and industry in general, therefore, constituted one distinct 
and definite object of the incorporation, if the law truly expounds 
its own purposes. It was not revenue alone ; it was not the facility 
of making loans, merely ; it was not mere utility to Government ; 
but, in addition to these, it was commerce; it was the interests of the 
people ; it was trade and business in general, which, among other 
considerations, formed an important part of the objects of the 
incorporation. And indeed, sir, events proved that it was vastly 
the most important part of all. What else did the first bank do, 
for the Government or the country, at all to be compared, in the 
amount of benefit, to its influence on the currency and the ex- 
changes ? 

It is as clear as demonstration, therefore, that the Government, in 
General Washington's time, did feel itself autliorized by the Consti- 
tution, and bound in duty, to provide a safe currency, of general 
credit, for circulation and for exchange. It did provide such a 
currency. It is remarkable enough, so comparatively small was 
the mere object of keeping the public money, that no provision for 
that purpose was inserted in the charter ; nor was there any law on 
the subject, so far as I remember, till the year 1800. 

The bank went into operation, and its success was great and in- 
stantaneous ; and during the whole period of its existence, there 
was no complaint of the state of the currency or the exchanges. 

And now, sir, let me ask, what was it that gave this success to 
the new institution ? Its capital was small, and Government had no 
participation in its direction ; it was committed entirely to individual 
management and control. 

Its notes, it is true, were made receivable in payments to Gov- 
ernment: that was one advantage. It had a solid capital, and its 
paper was at all times convertible into gold and silver, at the will 
and pleasure of the holder : that was another and a most important 
ground of its prosperity. But, sir, there was something more than 
all this. There was something which touched men's sentiments, as 
well as their understandinirs. There was a cause which carried the 
credit of the new-born bank, as on the wings of the wind, to every 
quarter and every extremity of the country. There was a charm, 
which created trust, and faith, and reliance, not only in the great 
marts of commerce, but in every corner into which money, in any 
form, could penetrate. That cause was its nationality of character. 



212 

It had the broad seal of the Union to its charter. It was the insti- 
tution of the nation, established by that new Government, which 
the people already loved ; and it was known to be designed to re- 
vive and foster that commerce, which had so long been prostrate 
and lifeless. 

Mr. President, let it be borne in tnind that I am not now arguing 
the constitutionality, or present expediency, of a bank of the United 
States. My sentiments are already well known on that subject ; 
and, if they were not, the subject is not now before us. 

But I have adverted to the history of the first bank, and exam- 
ined the grounds on which, and the purposes for which, it was estab- 
lished, in order to show the fact, that this Government, from the 
first, has acknowledged the important duty and obligation of pro- 
viding for currency and exchange, as part of the necessary regulation 
of commerce. I do not mean, at present, to say that a bank is the 
only, or the indispensable, means by which this duty can and must 
be performed ; although I certainly think it the best. Yet I will 
not set limits to the wisdom and sagacity of gentlemen, in the in- 
vention and adaptation of means. If they do not like a bank, let 
them try whatever they do like. If they know a better instrument, 
or agent, let them use it. But I maintain that the performance of 
the duty, by some means, or some instrument, or some agent, is in- 
dispensable ; and that so long as it shall be neglected, so long the 
commerce and business of the country must suffer. 

The history of the late Bank of the United States manifests, as 
clearly as that of the first, that the Government, in creating it, was 
acting, avowedly, in execution of its duty, in regard to the cur- 
rency. Fiscal aid, except so far as the furnishing of a currency 
was concerned, was hardly thought of. Its bills were made re- 
ceivable for revenue, indeed ; but that provision, as far as it went, 
was obviously a provision for currency. Currency for the revenue, 
however, was not the leading object. The leading object was 
currency for the country. 

The condition of things, at that time, was very much like that 
which now exists. The revenue of the Government was entirely 
adequate to all its wants ; but its operations were all obstructed by 
the derangement of the currency, and the people were as bad off 
as the Government. The banks, or most of them, had suspended 
payments. Their paper was depreciated, in various degrees ; the 
exchanges were all disordered, and the commerce of the country 
thrown into confusion. Government and people were all rich ; but, 
with all their riches, they had no money. Both might apply to 
themselves what Mr. Addison, being a much readier writer than 
speaker, said of himself, when he observed, that although he could 
draw for a thousand pounds, he had not a guinea in his pocket. 

Mr. Madison, at that time, was President of the United States. 



213 

He had been one of the opposers of the first bank, on constitutional 
grounds, but he had yielded his own opinions to the general senti- 
ment of the country, and to the consideration that the power had 
been established and exercised. He was not a man who carried 
his respect for himself, and his own opinions, so far as to overcome 
bis respect for all other men's judgments. Wise men, sir, are 
sometimes wise enougii to surrender their own opinions, or at least 
to see that there is a time when questions must be considered as 
settled. Mr. Madison was one of these. In his annual Message, 
in December, 1815, he says — 

" The arrangements of tlie finances, with a view to the receipts and ex- 
pendit ures of a permanent peace establishment, will necessarily enter into the 
deliberations of Congress during the present session. It is true, that the 
improved condition of the public revenue will not only afford the means of 
maintaining tiie faith of Uie Government with its creditors mviolate, and of 
prosecuting successfully the measures of the most liberal policy, but will 
also justify an immediate alleviation of the burdens imposed by the necessities 
of tha war. It is, however, essential to every modification of the finances, 
that the benefits of a uniform national currency should be restored to the 
community. The absence of the precious metals will, it is believed, be a 
temporary evil ; but, until they can again be rendered the general medium 
of exchange, it devolves on the wisdom of Congress to provide a substitute, 
which shall equally engage the confidence, and accommodate the wants of 
the citizens throughout the Union. If the operation of the State banks 
cannot produce this result, the probable operation of a national bank will 
merit consideration; and if neither of these expedients be deemed effectual, 
it may become necessary to ascertain the terms upon which tlie notes of 
the Govermnent (no longer required as an instrument of credit) shall be 
issued, upon motives of general policy, as a common medium of circulation." 

Here, sir, is the express recommendation to Congress to provide 
a " National Currency," a paper currency, a uniform currency, 
for the uses of the community, as a substitute for the precious metals, 
and as a medium of exchange. It devolves on Congress, says 
Mr. Madison, to provide such a substitute as shall engage the con- 
fidence and accommodate the wants of the citizens throughout the 
Union ; and if the State banks cannot produce this result, a national 
bank will merit consideration. Can language be more explicit? 
Currency, national currency, currency for exchange, currency 
which shall accommodate all the people, is the great, and leading, 
and, I may add, the sole and single object of the recommendation. 

Contrast now, sir, this language, and these sentiments, with those 
of the Message before us. Did Mr. Madison confine his recom- 
mendation to such measures of relief as might be useful to Govern- 
ment merely? Did he look exclusively to the Treasury? Did he 
content himself with suggesting a proper medium for the receipt 
of revenue, or a proper deposit for its safe-keeping? Far other- 
wise. His view was general, statesmanlike, and fitted to the 



214 

exigency of the times. The existing evil was one which afflicted 
the whole country ; and the remedy proposed by him was, as it 
should have been, commensurate with the whole evil. And, sir, 
what a shock it would have produced at that time, if Mr. Madison, 
seeing the prostrate state of commerce and business all around him, 
had recommended to Congress to do nothing in the world but to 
take care that the taxes were collected, and those in the employ- 
ment of Government well paid ! 

Well, sir, what was done with this Message ? Why, sir, the 
House of Representatives resolved, " that so much of the Presi- 
dent's Message as related to a uniform national currency, should be 
referred to a select committee." Such a committee was raised, 
and the honorable member from South Carolina was placed at its 
head, as he well deserved to be, from his standing in the House, 
and his well-known opinions on this subject. The honorable mem- 
ber was thus at the head of a committee, appointed, not on the 
subject of a revenue currency, or a currency for Government, but a 
UNIFORM NATIONAL CURRENCY ; and, to cfFect the great object of 
this appointment, he brought in a bill for the establishment of a 
Bank of the United States. 

As had been the case formerly, soon this occasion, the Secretary 
of the Treasury made a report on the subject. And now hear, sir, 
what he says of the duty of Congress to provide a national cur- 
rency, and of the objects which he proposes by the establishment 
of a national bank. 

" The constitutional and legal foundation of the monetary system of the 
United States is thus distinctly seen; and the power of the Federal Govern- 
ment to institute and regulate it, whether the circulating medium consist 
of coin, or of bills of credit, must, in its general policy, as well as in tlie 
terms of its investment, be deemed an exclusive power. It is true, that a 
system depending upon the agency of the precious metals, will bo affected 
by the various circumstances which diminish their quantity, or deteriorate 
their quahty. The coin of a State sometimes vanishes under tlie influence 
of political alarms ; sometimes in consequence of the explosion of mercantile 
speculations ; and sometimes by the drain of an unfavorable course of trade. 
But, whenever the emergency occurs that demands a change of system, it 
seems necessarily to follow, that the authority which was alone competent 
to establish the national coin, is alone competent to create a national 
substitute. It has happened, however, that the coin of the United States 
has ceased to be the circulating medium of exchange, and that no substitute 
has hitherto been provided by the national authority. During the last year, 
the principal banks established south and west of New England resolved, 
that tliey would no longer issue coin in payment of their notes, or of the 
drafts oftlieir customers for money received upon deposit. In this act the 
Government of the United States had no participation ; and yet the imme- 
diate effect of the act was to supersede tlie only legal currency of tlie nation. 
By this act, although no State can constitutionally emit bills of credit, 
corporations, erected by the several States, have been enabled to circulate 
a paper medium, subject to many of the practical inconveniences of the pro- 
hibited bills of credit" 



215 

"Of the services rendered to the Government by some of the State banks 
durinor the late war, and of the liberality by which some of them arc 
actuated in their intercourse with tlie Treasury, justice requires an explicit 
acknowlt'dg-ment It is a fact, however, incontestably jjroved, tliat tliose 
institutions cannot, at this time, be successfully employed to furnisJi a uniform 
national currency. The failure of one attempt to associate them, with that 
view, has already been stated. Another attempt, by their agency in circujatino- 
Treasmy notes, to overcome the inequalities of tlie exchanges, has only been 
partially successlul. And a plan recently proposed, with the design to curtail 
the issues of bank notes, to tix the public confidence in the administration of 
the affairs of the banks, and to give to each bank a legitimate share in the 
circulation, is not likely to receive the general sanction of the banks. The 
truth is, that the charter restrictions of some of the banks, the mutual relation 
and dependence of the banks of the same State, and even of the banks of 
the different States, and the duty which the directors of each bank conceive 
they owe to their immediate constituents, upon points of security or emolu- 
ni'Mit, interpose an insuperable obsUicle to any voluntary arrangement, upon 
national considerations alone, for tlie establishment of a national medium 
through the agency of the State banks." 

" The establishment of a national bank is regarded as the best, and per- 
haps tlie only adequate resource, to relieve tlie country and tlie Government 
from the present embarrassment. Authorized to issue notes, which 'svill be 
received in all payments to the United States, the circulation of its issues will 
be coextensive with the Union ; and there will exist a constant demand, 
bearing a just proportion to the annual amount of the duties and taxes to be 
collected, independent of the general circulation for commercial and social 
purposes. A national bank will, therefore, possess the means and the op- 
portunity of supplying a circulating medium, of equal use and value in 
every Stale, and in every district of every State. 

" The power of the Government to supply and maintam a paper medium 
of exchange, will not be questioned ; but, for the introduction of that me- 
dium, there must be an adequate motive." 

" Upon the whole, the state of the national currency, and other important 
considerations connected with the operations of the Treasury, render it a 
duty respectfully to propose — 

" That a national bank be established." 

Tins language, it must be admiited, is explicit enough, both in 
regard to the power and the duty ; and the whole report bears 
very little resemblance, most certainly, to the official paper from the 
Treasury Department now before us. 

When the bill was called up, the honorable member from South 
Carolina explained its objects in an able speech. He showed the 
absolute necessity of a national currency; the power of Congress 
over such currency, whether metallic or paper ; and the propriety 
and expediency of establishing a bank, as the best means of exer- 
cising these powers and fulfilling these duties. I agreed then, and 
1 agree now, to the general sentiments expressed in that speech, 
heartily and entirely. I would refer to it, on this occasion, both as 
an able argument and a high authority ; and beg to adopt it, as 
setting forth, in a strong light, the sentiments which I am now en- 
deavoring to enforce. 

[Mr. Calhoun here rose to make an explanation. He said 



216 

that he never saw the reix)rter's notes of his speech on that occa- 
sion, and, therefore, what he did say, may not have been what he 
would have said. Tl)ere were points of omission in that speech, 
which occupied a column and a half of the National Intelligencer. 
Mr. C. said, that he took care then, as now, to fortify himself, and 
leave a road open to oppose, at any coming time, a national bank. 
He then said that he was opposed to a bank, but that he submitted 
to the necessity of the case. There was then a connection between 
the Government and the banks ; and if the Government had a right 
to regulate the currency, there was no means of doing it but by a 
national bank. He had, both then and since then, contended that 
Government had no right to have any connection with any banks. 
In his opinion, the United States Bank (which he then advocated, 
and aS^sisted to establish) was not established according to the Con- 
stitution. Consress had no right to establish such a bank. He 
acted contrary to his own impressions of right. Many people may 
do things which they do not believe to be lawful, from necessity. 
He acted from necessity.] 

Mr. Webster, resuming his remarks, said, he thought the gentle- 
man had said, formerly, that in consequence of the decision of the 
question, he felt thenceforward precluded from opposing the bank 
as being unconstitutional. 

[Mr. Calhoun again explained. He (Mr. C.) thought the 
connection between Government and banks was now broken, and 
that set him at liberty ; so that now he could oppose what he had 
then, and since, earnestly advocated.] 

It is not my desire, sir, to hold the gentleman to a report of his 
speech, which he may choose, even now, to disclaim. I have never 
heard of his disclaiming it before ; and even now, sir, I do not un- 
derstand him as being desirous of retracting or denying any thing 
contained in the printed report of his speech, respecting the impor- 
tance of a uniform national currency. That topic makes up the 
sum and substance of his whole speech. It was the topic of the 
occasion ; it was the express purpose for which his committee had 
been raised, and for the accomplishment of which the whole pro- 
ceeding was gone into. It was all currency, currency, currency ; 
and whether the gentleman now thinks the law constitutional or un- 
constitutional, he cannot deny that his own object, and the object 
of Congress, was to furnish a circulating medium for the country. 
And here again, so unimportant, relatively, was the mere custody, 
or deposit of the public moneys in the bank, that the bill, as 
originally introduced, contained no provision for that object. A 
section was afterwards introduced, in Committee of the Whole, on 
my motion, providing for the deposit of the public moneys with 
the bank, unless the Secretary of the Treasury should, at any time, 
otherwise order and direct; a reservation of power to the Secretary, 



217 

which, as I think, and always have thought, was greatly abused, by 
the removal of the deposits, in 1833. 

By reference to the debates, sir, it will be found that other 
friends of the measure followed up the general ideas of the honor- 
able gentleman from South Carolina, and supported the bank, as a 
necessary agent or instrument for establishing, anew, a national cur- 
rency, for the uses of commerce and exchange. 

The operation of the joint resolution of April, 1816, aided, no 
doubt, in a proper degree, by the institution of the bank, and the 
currency which it furnished, accomplished the great end of the re- 
sumption of specie pa} ments ; and, for a long period, we had no 
flirther trouble with the currency. 

And I now proceed to say, sir, that the late President of the 
United States has acknowledged this duty, as often, and as fully 
and clearly, as any of his predecessors. His various admissions, or 
recognitions, of this obliijation, are too recent and too fresh in every 
one's recollection, to require, or to justify, particular citation. All 
the evils we now feel, indeed, we have encountered in the search 
after a better currency. It has been in the avowed attempt to dis- 
charge the duty of Government, connected with the circulation, that 
the late administration has led us to where we now are. The very 
first charge that the late President ever brought against the bank, 
was, that it had not maintained a sound and uniform airrency. 
Most persons, probably, will think the charge quite unfounded ; 
yet this was the charge. Its dereliction of duty, or its want of 
ability to perform what had been expected from it — its failure, in 
some way, to maintain a good currency — was the original professed 
cause of dissatisfaction. And when the bill for rechartering the 
bank was negatived, it was not on the ground that Government had 
nothing to do with the national currency, but that a better provision 
for it might be made, than we had in the bank. The duty was 
not to be disclaimed, or thrown ofi", or neglected ; new agents, only, 
were to be employed, that it might be better performed. The 
State banks would do better than the national bank had done ; the 
President was confident of this, and therefore he rejected the na- 
tional bank as an agent, and adopted the State banks. And what 
he so constantly promised us would happen, he as resolutely main- 
tained, afterwards, had happened. Down to his last Message, down 
to the last hour of his administration, he insisted upon it that the 
State banks had fulfilled all his expectations, and all their own 
duties ; and had enabled the Government to accomplish, in the 
very best manner, the great and important objects of currency and 
exchange. We have the same head of the Treasury, sir, who has 
repeated and echoed all these statements, whether of prophecy or 
fulfilment, in successive reports, some of them not less tersely and 
intelligibly written than that now before us ; and we have heads of 
VOL. III. 28 s 



218 

other departments, who concurred, I presume, from time to time, in 
the original statements, and in the faithful echoes of them, from the 
Treasury. All these functionaries have been laboring with the 
utmost zeal, as they professed, to perform their constitutional obli- 
gation of furnishing the country with a good currency, with a better 
currency, with the best currency ; and they have dragged Congress, 
dragged the country, and dragged themselves, into difficulty, per- 
plexity, and distress, in this long and hot pursuit. And now, 
behold, they draw up all at once, and declare that the object of all 
this toil and struggle is one with which they have nothing at all 
to do! 

But, as the last Message of the late President was loud and warm 
in its praises of the State banks, for the good services which they 
rendered to currency and exchange, so, no doubt, would the first 
Message of the present President have commended, with equal 
earnestness, the success with which Government had been able, by 
means of the State banks, to discharge this important part of its 
duties, if the events of May last had not left that subject no longer 
a topic of felicitation. By the suspension of specie payments, all 
was changed. The duty of Government was changed, and the 
constitution was changed also. Government was now to give up, 
and abandon forever, that very thing which had been the professed 
object of its most assiduous care, and most earnest pursuit, for eight 
long and arduous years ! 

Mr. President, when I heard of the suspension of the banks, I 
was by the side of the Ohio, on a journey, in the course of which 
I had occasion, frequently, to express my opinion on this new state 
of things ; and those who may have heard me, or noticed my re- 
marks, will bear witness that I constantly expressed the opinion 
that a new era had commenced ; that a question of principle, and a 
question of the highest importance, had arisen, or would immediate- 
ly arise ; that, hereafter, the dispute would not be so much about 
means as ends ; that the extent of the constitutional obligation of 
the Government would be controverted ; in short, that the question, 
■whether it was the duty of Congress to concern itself with the na- 
tional currency, must, inevitably, become the leading topic of the 
times. So I thought, whenever I had the pleasure of addressing 
my fellow-citizens, and so I feel and think now. I said often on 
these occasions, and I say now, that it is a question which the peo- 
ple, by the regular exercise of their elective franchise, must decide. 
The subject is one of so much permanent importance, and public 
men have become so committed, on the one side or the other, that 
the decision must, as I think, be made by the country. We see an 
entirely new state of things. We behold new and untried principles 
of administration advanced and adopted. We witness an avowed 
and bold rejection of the policy hitherto always prevailing. The 



219 

Government has come, not to a pause, but to a revulsion. It not 
only stops, but it starts back ; it abandons the course which it has 
been pursuing for near fifty years, and it reproaches itself with 
having been acting, all that time, beyond the limits of its constitu- 
tional power. 

It was my second proposition, sir, that the Message, the bill, and 
the amendment, taken together, deny, in substance, that this Gov- 
ernment has any power or duty connected with the currency, or 
the exchanges, beyond the mere regulation of the coins. 

And, sir, is this not true ? We are to judge of the Message by 
what it omits, as well as by what it proposes. Congress is called 
together in a great commercial crisis. The whole business of the 
country is arrested by a sudden disorder of the currency. And 
what is proposed ? Any tiling to restore this currency ? Any 
thing with a direct view of producing the resumption of payment 
by the banks ? Is a single measure offered, or suggested, the main 
purpose of which is general relief to the country ? Not one. No, 
sir, not one. The administration confines its measures to the Gov- 
ernment itself. It proposes a loan, by the means of Treasury notes, 
to make good the deficiency in the revenue ; and it proposes secure 
vaults, and strong boxes, for the safe keeping of the public moneys ; 
and here its paternal care ends. Does the Message propose to 
grapple, in any way, with the main evil of the times? Seeing 
that that evil is one affecting the currency, does the Message, like 
that of Mr. Madison, in 1815, address itself directly to that point, 
and recommend measures of adequate relief? No such thing. It 
abstains from all treneral relief. It looks out for the interest of the 
Government, as a Government ; and it looks no further. Sir, let 
me turn to the Message itself, to show that all its recommendations, 
and, indeed, all the objects in calling Congress together, are con- 
fined to the narrow and exclusive purpose of relieving the wants of 
Government. 

The President says, that the regulations established by Congress, 
for the deposit and safe keeping of the public moneys having 
become inoperative by the suspension of payment by tlie banks ; 
and apprehending that the same cause would so diminish the revenue, 
that the receipts into the Treasury would not be sufficient to defray 
the expenses of Government ; and as questions were also expected 
to arise, respecting the October instalment of the deposit to the 
States, and doubting whether Government would be able to pay its 
creditors in specie, or its equivalent, according to law, he felt it to 
be his duty to call Congress together. These are the reasons for 
calling Congress. They are all the reasons ; and they all have 
exclusive regard to the Government itself. 

In the next place, let us see what measures the Message recom- 



220 

mends to Congress. In its own language, the objects demanding 
its attention are — 

"To regulate, by law, the safe keeping, transfer, and disbursement of the 
public moneys ; to designate the funds to be received and paid by the Gov- 
ernment; to enable the Treasury to meet promptly every demand upon it; 
to prescribe the terms of indulgence, and the mode of settlement to be 
adopted, as well in collecting from individuals the revenue that has accrued, 
as in withdrawing it from former depositories." 

These are all the objects recommended particularly to the care 
of Congress ; and the enumei'ation of them is followed by a general 
suggestion, that Congress will adopt such further measures as may 
promote the prosperity of the country. This whole enumeration, it 
is obvious, is conlined to the wants and convenience of the Govern- 
ment itself. 

And now, sir, let us see on what grounds it is, that the Message 
refrains from recommending measures of general relief. The Pres- 
ident says — 

"It was not designed by the Constitution that the Government should as- 
sume the management of domestic or foreign exchange. It is, indeed, 
authorized to regulate, by law, the commerce between the States, and to 
provide a general standard of value or medium of exchange in gold and 
silver ; but it is not its province to aid individuals in the transfer of their 
funds, otherwise than through the facilities afforded by the Post Office De- 
partment. As justly might it be called on to provide for the transportation 
of their merchandise." 

And again — 

" If, therefore, I refrain from suggesting to Congress any specific plan for 
regulating the exchanges of the country, relieving mercantile embarrass- 
ments, or interfering with the ordinary operations of foreign or domestic com- 
merce, it is from a conviction that such measures are not within the constitu- 
tional province of the General Government, and that their adoption would 
not promote the real and pennanent welfare of those they might be 
designed to aid." 



o 



The President, then, sir, declines to recommend any measure for 
the relief of commerce, for the restoration of the currency, or for 
the benefit of exchanges, on the avowed ground, that, in his opin- 
ion, such measures are not within the constitutional power of Con- 
gress. He is distinct and explicit, and so far entitled to credit. 
He denies, broadly and flatly, that there is any authority in this 
Government to regulate the currency, and the exchanges, beyond 
its care of the coin. The question, then, is fairly stated. It cannot 
be misunderstood ; and we are now to see how Congress, and, 
what is much more important, how the country will settle it. 



221 

Mr. President, if, in May last, when specie payments were sus- 
pended, the president of one of the banks had called his council of 
directors together, informed them that their affairs were threatened 
with danger; that they could not collect their debts in specie, and 
might not be able to pay their creditors in specie, and recommended 
such measures as he thought their interests required, — his policy, in 
all this, would have been no more exclusively confined to the inter- 
ests of his corporation, than tlie policy of the Message is confined 
to the interest of this great corporation of Government. Both in 
practice, therefore, and on principle, in reality, and avowedly, the 
Administration abandons the currency to its fate. It surrenders all 
care over it, declines all concern about it, and denies that it has 
any duty connected with it. 

Sir, the question, then, comes to be this : Shall one of the great 
powers of tlie Constitution, a power essential to it, on any just plan 
or theory of government, a power which has been exercised from 
the beginning, a power absolutely necessary and indispensable to 
the proper regulation of the commerce of the country, be now 
surrendered and abandoned forever ? To this point we have come, 
sir, after pursuing the '' experiment" of the late Administration for 
five years. And from this point, I am pursuaded, the country will 
move, and move strongly, in one direction or another. We shall 
either go over to the ffendeman from Missouri, and suffer him to 
embrace us in his gold and silver arms, and hug us to his hard- 
money breast ; or we shall return to the long-tried, well-approved, 
and constitutional practice of the Government. 

As to the employment of the State banks, for the purpose of 
maintaining the currency, and carrying on the operations of ex- 
change, I certainly never had any confidence in that system, and 
have none now. 

I think the State banks can never furnish a medium for 
circulation, which shall have universal credit, and be of equal value 
every where. 

I think they have no powers, or faculties, which can enable them 
to restrain excessive issues of paper. 

I think their respective spheres of action are so limited, and 
their currencies so local, that they can never accomplish what is 
desired in relation to exchanges. 

Still, I prefer the employment of State banks to the project 
before us ; because it is less of a project ; because it is less danger- 
ous ; and, chiefly, because it does not surrender, effectually and in 
terms, a great power of the Constitution. 

In every respect, this project is objectionable. It is but another 
" experiment ; " and those who recommended it so zealously were 
the authors of the last, and were equally full of confidence and 
assurance in regard to that. 

s* 



222 

Who invite us to try this experiment ? What voices do we hear 
raised in its recommendation ? Are they not the well-known voices 
which we heard so often when the late " experiment " was begun ? 
We know of but one accession. The voice of the honorable mem- 
ber from South Carolina is heard, it is true, now mingling with the 
general strain ; and that is all. Where, then, is the ground for 
confidence in this experiment, more than there was for it in the 
last ? 

This scheme, too, is against all our usages, and all our habits. 
It locks up the revenue, under bolts and bars, from the time of col- 
lection to the time of disbursement. Our practice has been other- 
wise, and it has been a useful practice. In 1833, the Secretary of 
the Treasury admonished the deposit banks, since they had 
obtained the custody of the public funds, to accommodate the pub- 
lic, to loan freely, especially to importing merchants. And now, a 
system is proposed to us, according to which, any use of the public 
funds, by way of loan or accommodation to the public, is made a 
criminal offence, and to be prosecuted by indictment ! Admirable, 
admirable consistency ! 

But the great objection to the measure, that which so much 
diminishes the importance of all other objections, is its abandon- 
ment of the duty of Government. The character of this project is, 
severance of the Government from the people. This, like the mark 
of Cain, is branded on its forehead. Government separates itself, 
not from the banks merely, but from the community. It v^ithdraws 
its care, it denies its protection, it renounces its own high duties. I 
am against the project, therefore, in principle and in detail ; I am 
for no new experiments ; but I am for a sound currency for the 
country. And I mean, by this, a convertible currency, so far as it 
consists of paper. I differ, altogether, in this respect, from the 
gentleman from South Carolina. Mere government paper, not 
payable otherwise than by being received for taxes, has no pretence 
to be called a currency. After all that can be said about it, such 
paper is mere paper money. It is nothing but bills of credit. It 
always has been, and always will be, depreciated. Sir, we want 
specie, and we want paper of universal credit, and which is con- 
vertible into specie at the will of the holder. That system of 
currency, the experience of the world, and our own experience, 
have both fully approved. 

I maintain, sir, that the people of this country are entitled, at the 
hand of this Government, to a sound, safe, and uniform currency. 
If they agree with me, they will themselves say so. They wijl 
say, " It is our right ; we have enjoyed it forty years ; it is practi- 
cable, it is necessary to our prosperity, it is the duty of Government 
to furnish it ; we ought to have it, we can have it, and we will 
have it." 



223 

The lano-uaffe of the administration, on the other hand, is, " Good 
masters, you are mistaken. You have no such right. You are 
entitled to no such tiling from us. The Constitution has been mis- 
understood. We have suddenly found out its true meaning. A 
new light has flashed upon us. It is no business of ours to furnish 
a national currency. You cannot have it, and you will not get it." 

Mr. President, I have thus stated what I think to be the real 
question now before the country. I trust myself, cheerfully, to the 
result. I am willing to abide the test of time, and the ultimate 
judgment of the people ; for it is a sentiment deeply infused into 
me, it is a conviction which prevades every faculty I possess, that 
there can be no settled and permanent prosperity to the commerce 
and business of the country, until the constitutional duty of Govern- 
ment, in regard to the currency, be honestly and faithfully fulfilled. 

In Senate, October 3, Mr. Calhoun spoke on the same subject at length, 
and also in reply to Mr. Webster's argument. 

IMr. Webster rose and said : The gentleman from South Carolina 
has said of my remarks, on a former day, that, where he looked for 
argument, he found only denunciation. But there are always two 
sides in such a case ; it may certainly happen that denunciation is 
given instead of argument ; but it may also happen that arguments 
which cannot be answered are got rid of by calling them denunci- 
ation. That, however, is a question which it is not for the two 
parties themselves to decide. I listened with great respect to the 
opinions of the member, as it is my constant practice to do, and I 
meant to ex])ress my astonishment that, at this period of his public 
life, looking back to his former course in relation to the currency of 
this country for the space of nearly twenty years — I say, 1 must 
give utterance to my astonishment at finding him where he now is, 
namely, according to his own avowal, back again to the old conti- 
nental money ! If this Government paper currency, of vv'hich the 
gentleman is now become the sudden and zealous advocate, is not 
what I pronounced it to be, continejital money, what is it ? It is not 
a species of exchequer notes ; it is a mere Government paper, cir- 
culating without interest, receivable for the dues of Government, 
and with no certain provisions for its redemption ; and that is what 
the old continental money was. But the gentleman says there is 
no analogy between his proposed money and the old continental, 
because Conf^ress then levied no taxes ! But Congress made 
requisitions on the States, and did not the States levy taxes ? 

The greater part of his remarks, so far from being any reply to 
the subjects under discussion, have been taken up with a general 
history of the banking system. No doubt much of the outline he 
has given may be correct ; but there is nothing in all he has ad- 



224 

vanced to justify the leading Inference which he makes, and which 
is, that the credit system ought to be destroyed, and the hard money 
system henceforth be acted upon. In coming to this conclusion, 
he is by far too general ; he seems, indeed, to have generalized 
himself out of all power of applying practical truths to common 
subjects. 

He has referred to the Bank of Amsterdam as an argument in 
proof of the superiority of a bank of deposit over one of circulation. 
But, so llir from a bank of deposit being safer than one of circula- 
tion, we all know that the Bank of England took the character of 
a bank of circulation, among other things, to avoid the danger of a 
bank of deposit, making the money in the bank liable to constant 
call by the bills. Every day's experience in this way brings the 
solidity of the bank to the test. It is astonishing he should assert 
the superiority and greater safety of such kind of banks ; they had 
all the dangers of banks of circulation, without any of their security, 
which is the liability of an immediate demand, at any time, lor the 
specie represented by their notes. Certificates of deposit issued by 
a bank of deposit are not subject to this test. When certificates 
upon sums in actual deposit are issued, who is to know when the 
issue begins upon deposits not in existence ? Who is to know where 
such an issue of such certificates may end ? I conclude, therefore, 
that the notes or certificates of a bank of deposit are not in their 
nature so good as the convertible notes of our common banks of 
circulation. But if the certificates issued upon actual deposits are not 
so safe as the notes of banks, always convertible at the pleasure of 
the holder, then, how much less safe are the notes proposed by the 
gentleman ! Notes to be issued on no deposit, and convertible at no 
time ! These he would issue, not upon the basis of any deposit, 
not convertible at the will of tlie holder, and not bearing any inter- 
est ! Now, here, I insist upon it, is all the character and all the 
danger of the old continental money ; and this train of reasoning, 
the gentleman says, is denunciation ! 

The gentleman brings an objection against the Bank of England 
as a bank of circulation, which he doubtless deems of great weight 
against all such banks. He says the Bank of England made suc- 
cessive augmentations of its capital, beginning first with a capital 
of a quarter of a million, and ending, after the lapse of one hundred 
years, with a capital of eleven millions. But will the gentleman 
call this a rapid advance ? Within the space of one hundred years, 
has not the advance of commerce, trade, manufactures, population, 
and every thing else, been far more rapid ? Is it not the fact that 
commerce and manufactures have outgrown the bank, and that it has 
lagged behind ? The capital of that bank now, at eleven millions, 
for a commerce so vast and so extended as that of England, is a 
much smaller capital, in point of fact, than its original capital of a 



225 

quarter of a million a century ago. Surely the gentleman must ad- 
mit that, in the course of one hundred years, manufactures and 
commerce have undergone an increase beyond all proportion to the 
capital of the bank. 

Again, the gentleman says that, in 1797, when the Bank of 
England suspended specie payments,* then, to the astonishment of 
the world, tlie suspension produced no great shock. I think some- 
what differently. It is true there was no immediate, instantaneous 
shock, but the wants of the Government and of the community 
were such as to give rise to a constant over-issue, so that, at one 
lime, the depreciation, I think, was nearly twenty percent. When 
Government afterwards threatened to resume, a great contraction 
of issues became necessary. And if the suspension rendered such 
a contraction, at a subsequent period, necessary, or, rather, inevi- 
table, how can it be asserted that the suspension never occasioned 
any great shock ? 

That contraction was of itself a great shock and a great distress. 
It made a violent change in the relative interests of debtor and 
creditor ! 

So, in this country, in 1814, the gentleman says he was astonished 
that the suspension produced so little effect. What effect, I would 
ask, would satisfy him ? What sort of a shock must it be before 
he will feel it ? The fact is, that at that time, as he well remem- 
bers, exchange was, in some places, at twenty-five per cent, dis- 
count between one part of the country and another. 

A man here could not buy a bill upon Boston at less than that 
discount ; in other words, money here was depreciated twenty-five 
per cent. ! And was not that shock enough ? Was not that 
a shock to the credit of the country? To me it appears that the 
gentleman, in his general view, and in his desire to fix great eras 
and establisli a few sweeping propositions, leaves out quite too 
much of what is practical and precise. He expresses his astonish- 
ment at what he says he saw in 1816, when, although the banks 
did not pay specie, yet, he says, they kept their credit. He cer- 
tainly saw what I did not see. Their credit was depreciated from 
New England, proceeding south to Washington ; in all that extent 
their credit fell to various low rates. Beyond that point I have 
less recollection of the circumstances. Granting, however, the 
gentleman's argument, that when banks have suspended, still their 
paper has maintained its ground, does it follow that a paper starting 
into existence on the very principle of suspension, and never even 
promising to pay, will be a good paper currency ? Does he tnink 
such a paper can maintain its ground, or ever, indeed, obtain any 

* This assertion, as here responded to, is modified, and much changed, in the 
printed speech of Mr. C, so as to read differently. — JS'ote by the Reporter. 

VOL. III. 29 



226 

ground to stand upon at all? Yet such is the currency the gentle- 
man has proposed ; and the argument by which he would recom- 
mend it to the country, is built upon the assumed fact that the 
paper even of suspended banks is a good currency ! 

To prevent all mistakes on this subject, 1 desire to repeat that, 
in my opinion, it is utterly vain and hopeless to maintain any 
paper circulation, at par ivith specie, that is not convertible into 
specie at the will of the holder. If we are not ready to admit this, 
the history, not only of all other countries, but of our own country, 
must have been lost upon us. 

The gentleman next proceeds, after this strong testimony in favor 
even of broken banks, to descant vehemently upon the dangers 
which he now apprehends from the whole banking system, and of 
course even from good banks ! He has classed all these dangers 
very systematically, and finds that the banking system is full of 
dangers — 1st, to civil liberty ; 2dly, to industry ; and 3dly, to the 
moral and intellectual development of mankind.* 

Now as relates to liberty, the only question is, whether the ex- 
tending the property and business of the great mass of mankind can 
be adverse and unfavorable to liberty. If the raising the great mass 
of men to a better condition — if surrounding them with greater com- 
forts and greater abundance of all things — if thus raising their 
social condition is unfavorable to liberty, then indeed the banking 
system, or, in other words, the credit system, (for it is the same 
thing ; they are indentical,) is, as the gentleman maintains, full of 
danger to liberty ; for it is that very system, and none other, which, 
within the last two hundred years, has raised the condition of the 
body of the people in all commercial countries. It is that system 
which has made the working men and the industrious classes of 
modern times superior even to the landed proprietors and feudal 
lords of former times. 

The institution of banks is one part in that great system of trade, 
commerce, and credit, which has grown up w ithin the last two cen- 
turies ; and, let me ask, what has been the progress of liberty during 
the lapse of these centuries ? Does not the slightest retrospect 
confute the gentleman's argument ? Are the ideas of liberty now 
less distinct, or its enjoyment less general, or less secure, than in the 
days of the Stuarts? If banks are useful to trade and commerce 
— if they give to industry the facilities of capital — if they thus 
raise the mass of society into a better condition — providing for 
them better — making them richer — multiplying the means of em- 
ployment for all — enabling the industrious to maintain themselves 
better, and to educate their children better, — who is ready to as- 



SU 



* This proposition of Mr. Calhoun's is quite softened down, and almost 
ippressed, in the printed speech. — Note by the Reporter. 



227 

sert that all this has an unfavorable effect on the progress of civil 
liberty ? 

In reply to my arguments on a former day, showing it to be the 
duty of the Government to regulate the currency, (which I can 
agree with the gentleman in calling the very life-blood of the poli- 
tical body,) the honorable gentleman asserts that Government has 
no right to interfere with individuals. He therefore proposes in- 
dividual banking, and maintains that credit is a man's private prop- 
erty ; that Government has no more right to interfere with this than 
with any other kind of property ; that Government has no right to 
put restrictions of any kind upon it. But this, which the gentleman 
asserts is not the right of Government, is the very and the especial 
object for which Government is instituted, (government does inter- 
fere and place restrictions in a thousand ways upon every kind of 
individual property ; and it is done, and is necessarily done, by 
every Government for the good of the whole community. But if 
the gentleman is so very desirous of establishing such a system of 
private individual banking, he need not go far, he need not even stir 
from his seat ; he may see every where around him all the blessings 
of the system of individual irresponsible banking which he recom- 
mends. If this is the currency which the Government seeks to give 
us, we have got it ! 

The gentleman's system has been tried ; it is now upon us ; and 
the country has suffered enough, and too much, from it already. 
Years ago, as well as now, we had private banking — every body 
turned banker — every body put out his notes for circulation, till it 
was at last found necessary to restrain this right — this very right 
which the gentleman says Government has not the right to restrain ; 
a right which, however, has more than once been proved to be, 
after all, nothing more than the right of practising fraud and imposi- 
tion upon the People. Many, perhaps most of the States, therefore, 
have restrained it by law. It is the ver}'' necessity of checking and 
restraining the licentious exercise of this individual right, which is 
the orimn of banking communities. 

By the institution of such corporations, the common right is 
restricted for the sake of the good of the whole, and the issue of 
paper as money is made to be founded on assigned capital, on rec- 
ognized credit, and issued under an administration of responsible 
citizens, responsible, individually and corporately, to the laws. It 
is to restrain a right which leads to so much imposition, that it has 
been found necessary to create banking communities, and by means 
of them to establish commercial credit on a safe foundation. This 
is the system of credit which the gentleman is now joined with the 
Administration to uproot and to destroy ; instead of this, he would 
let loose individual bankers with their spurious paper all over the 
country ; and, in proof of the expediency of doing all this, he main- 



228 

tains that the banking system is full of danger to liberty ! That it 
may be dangerous to tlie liberty of defraudbg and imposing upon 
the poor, 1 have already conceded to him, and believe there are 
few who will not agree with me that this, if a danger, is a whole- 
some and valuable one. 

But the gentleman has also discovered, not only that the credit 
system is full of danger against liberty, but that it exercises a per- 
nicious influence upon the industry of the People! This, indeed, is 
to me entirely new ! Surely the gentleman has been dealing with 
things unreal and imaginary ! It is quite a new thing to me that 
the young men of our country are, as the gentleman says, seeking 
after an education to make themselves bankers' clerks ; and that 
there is no other road to distinction but employment behind the 
counter and in the banking houses ! How long has this danger 
been hanging over the land, and has never till now been seen, or 
suspected, or dreamt of? Even the late illustrious President, and 
the gentleman from Missouri, (Mr. Benton,) never discovered or 
suspected so much as this in all their industry and zeal against the 
banking institutions of the country. It is quite novel to me, that 
the ingenuous youths of the country, in all the colleges and halls, are 
only seeking to prepare themselves to be cashiers and tellers, wri- 
ter and accountants ! I have never heard that their desire of dis- 
tinction has taken such a turn, or that, out of regard to such pursuits, 
they had stifled their ambition for literary and professional distinc- 
tion. On the contrary, if we look at the subject as it is, we shall 
discover that a well-regulated banking system is eminently favorable 
to the industry of the People, by assisting the industrious who have 
no capital, and lending aid to enterprise, which otherwise would 
waste itself in ineffectual efforts. This system, invaluable to our 
country, has a tendency to break down the influence which dead 
capital confers upon the few who possess it, while it lifts up the 
many who have got no capital. In so doing, it promotes industry, 
and betters the condition of the greater number. Look at our vil- 
lages and manufacturing cities in the North ; are they smitten, and 
withered, and destroyed by this system ? They all have their banks, 
which are established according to the necessities and prospects of 
the People ; and wherever they are, their industry is seen in full 
and vigorous operation, and the People busy in prosperous employ- 
ment. But where the credit system, by any cause, is prostrate and 
injured, (as it now is,) and its action made to cease, the hum of 
business is silenced, and the industrious community, the mass of the 
People, is thrown out of employment. 

Let us look at things as they are, and let us not be driven by de- 
nunciations against institutions which exist in all the States. That 
these institutions have been abused, is very probable ; but how shall 
that be remedied ? After all 1 have heard from the gentleman and 



229 

his coadjutors, I find the only remedy they propose is to with- 
draw from them ! To withdraw from them ! But will that remedy 
any evils of the system? Men might as well think of putting out 
a fire hy merely going away from the fire ! If we saw a house in 
flames, and the blaze rushing out through the windows, who would 
think of recommending, as a means of extinguishing the fire, to with- 
draw, to go away, and leave the house and the fire to themselves ? 
The system is with us, and cannot be got rid of, even if it were de- 
sirable to get rid of it. It is, therefore, our duty to do what we can 
to regulate it. It is our duty, as practical men, taking things as we 
find them, and seeing that to eradicate is not possible, but to mitigate 
every evil is easy — it is, under such circumstances, our paramount 
duty to render the currency which we have, the best possible. In- 
stead of this, the Administration proposes to do nothing, and the 
honorable gentleman echoes back the advice, and proposes to with- 
draw, to divorce from the system ! But does the gentleman think, 
that if there are evils, those evils will be less when all remedy is 
withdrawn? 

With respect to the two currencies, one of specie for the Gov- 
ernment, and the other of depreciated paper for the People, the 
reasoning we have heard is this : " Would you have Government 
take had money for its dues 1 If the People are ivilling to take 
such a depreciated medium, ought the Government to take it 1 " 

This, sir, is not our point of objection ; we do not wish the Gov- 
ernment to take had money because the People are obliged to take 
it : what we complain of is, that the Administration does nothing, 
and proposes nothing, to make this had money of the People hetter. 
We want an equality ; that both Government and People share 
the same fate, and use the same money, and that the Government 
perform its duty of rendering the money, the currency of the 
People, sound and good. 

It is this equality which I desire ; not that Government should 
take had rnoney, but that it should take such proper measures that 
there may be no bad money to take ! That the People first, and then 
the Government, may have and receive good money. This can 
only be done by regulating the currency. It cannot be done by 
continuing a wild warfare against the credit, the currency, the 
money of the People. This has been done — it is the duty of 
Government to do this ; and if ever we are to see prosperity again, 
it must be done again. But the vice of the Message, the defect of 
this measure and of this amendment, is, that nothing is attempted 
for the People ; Government looks out for its own part ; it takes 
good care for the lion's share, and leaves all the rest to chance and 
accident! Again, I assert and maintain that it is the duty of the 
Government to give effectual relief to the People ; and to the Peo- 
ple first and most especially ; for, if the People are relieved from a 

T 



230 

bad currency, it Is plain enough there would be no bad currency for 
the Government to receive. Then this invidious and selfish measure 
of one currency for the Government and another for the People 
would be rendered unnecessary. It is the duty of the Government 
to do what it can ; its power is a trust power ; it was not created 
for itself alone. Its object is the good of the People ; and now is 
not the time to disavow and neglect that object, by leaving the 
country to suffer, and only providing for itself. 

la reply to Mr. Buchanan, Mr. Webster said — 

I shall detain the Senate, sir, with a few remarks only in reply to 
the gentleman from Pennsylvania, [Mr. Buchanan.] 

The gentleman has met the question fairly. He denies that 
there is any power or duty belonging to this Government, such as I 
have attempted to maintain. He denies that it is incumbent on 
Congress to maintain a sound and unifomi currency, or to have any 
thing to do with currency or exchange, beyond the regulation of 
coin. I am glad to see the honorable member take this distinct 
ground. All see now what the question is. 

The gentleman remarked, that I had abandoned that part of the 
Constitution which is usually relied on as giving Congress power to 
establish a bank ; that is to say, the power to lay and collect taxes. 
But you will remember, sir, that I was not discussing the power to 
create a bank, although, certainly, I have no doubt of the power. 
I was not contending merely for something that should aid in the 
collection of taxes ; I was speaking of the power and duty of pro- 
viding a sound currency for the whole country ; a power and a duty 
which would both belong to this Government, if another dollar of 
taxes was never to be collected. Yes, sir, if we knew, this day, 
that the proceeds of the sales of the public lands would yield rev- 
enues equal to all the wants of the Government for a hundred years 
to come, our want of a currency would be the same, and the duty 
of Government to provide it the same, as it now is. 

The gentleman argues, too, that a power to provide a currency 
cannot be drawn from the commercial power granted to Congress ; 
because, he says, that power is only to regulate commerce, and to 
regulate is not to create. This is not quite correct ; there are many 
forms of expression, in our language, especially those in which 
complex operations are described, in which to regulate means to 
cause, or to produce. But suppose I concede to the gentleman 
that to regulate never means to create. What then ? Would that 
prove that Congress could not create a currency, in order thereby 
to regulate commerce? May it not be necessary to make one 
thing, in order to regulate another ? Let us take the gentleman's 
own illustration. He says Congress has power to regulate the 



231 

value of foreign coin ; but that this cannot mean that it has the 
power to create such coin. Very true ; but, then, it may make the 
steelyards, or the scales, (may it not ?) as necessary instruments, to 
ascertain that value which is to be regulated. It may establish an 
assay on any scale It chooses. 

We have just passed a bill authorizing the Treasury Department 
to make and issue Treasury notes ; and we have done this under 
the power to borrow money ; and certainly the honorable member 
himself did not doubt, in that case, that, in exercising a clear con- 
stitutional power, we had a right to make any thing, which became 
necessary, as an instrument, to Its convenient execution. 

The power of Congress, therefore, over the currency ; its power 
to regulate all currency, metallic or paper ; and its power, and its 
duty, to provide and maintain a sound and universal currency, be- 
longs to it as an indispensable and inseparable part of Its general 
authority to regulate commerce. 

But, sir, I might safely go much farther than this. It could be 
shown, from a hundred instances, that the power to regulate com- 
merce has been held to be broad enough to include an authority to 
do things, to make things, to create things, which are useful and 
beneficial to commerce ; things which are not so much regulations 
of commerce, in a strict sense, as they are aids and assistances to 
commerce. Tlie gentleman himself, I will undertake to say, has 
voted for laws, for such purposes, very often. 

Mr. President, we have appropriated, I know not how much 
more, or how much less, than a million of dollars, for a breakwater 
In the mouth of the Delaware. The gentleman has concurred In 
these appropriations. Now, sir, w^e did not propose to regulate a 
breakwater ; we proposed to make it, to create it. In order to reg- 
ulate commerce, and to regulate it beneficially. Congress resolved 
to create a breakwater ; and the honorable member never found 
any constitutional difficulty in the way, so far as I remember. And 
yet, sir, a breakwater is not essential and indispensable to com- 
merce ; it is only useful and beneficial. But a sound currency, 
of universal and equal credit, is essential to the enjoyment of the 
just advantages of the intercourse between the States. 

The light-houses on the sea-coast, and on the lakes, and all the 
piers, buoys, and harbors, have been created, in like manner, simply 
by the power of Congress to regulate commerce. 

Mr. President, the honorable member from Pennsylvania, grow- 
ing warm in the progress of his speech, at length burst out into an 
exclamation. "What," said he, ''would the framers of the Con- 
stitution say, could they be now present, and hear the doctrines for 
which the member from Massachusetts contends ! " 

Sir, I have already quoted the language of several of these good 
and great men. I rely on their opinions, fully and clearly expressed. 



232 

I have quoted Mr. Madison, among others; but, sir, to use the 
lanojuao;e of the forum, I am wilhug to call the witness again into 
court, and to examine him further. Mr. INIadison, all will admit, is 
a competent witness. He had as much to do as any man in fram- 
ing the Constitution, and as much to do as any man in administer- 
ing it. Nobody, among the living or the dead, is more fit to be 
consulted, on a question growing out of it ; and he is far from being 
considered as a latitudinarian, in his mode of construction. I will 
then, sir, question him further. 

Be it remembered, sir, that my proposition simply is, that it is a 
part of the power and duty of Congress to maintain a general cur- 
rency, suitable to the state of things existing among us, for the use 
of commerce and the people. 

Now, sir, what says JMr. Madison ? I read from his Message of 
December, 1816 : 

" Upon this general view of the subject, it is obvious that there is only 
■wanting, to the fiscal prosperity of the Government, the restoration of a 
uniform medium of exchange. The resources and the faith of the nation, 
displayed in the system which Congress has established, insure respect and 
confidence both at home and abroad. The local accumulations of the rev- 
enue have already enabled the Treasury to meet the public engagements 
in the local currency of most of the States ; and it is expected that the 
same cause will produce the same effect throuuhout the Union. But, for 
the interests of the community at large, as well as for the purposes of tJie 
Treasury, it is essential that the nation should possess a currency of equal 
value, credit, and use, wlierever it may circulate. The Constitution has in- 
trusted Congress, exclusively, with the power of creating and regulating a 
currency of that description; and the measures which were taken during 
the last session, in execution of the power, give every promise of success. 
The Bank of the United States has been organized under auspices the most 
favorable, and cannot fail to be an important auxiliary to tliose measures." 

And now, sir, I hand the witness over to the gentlemen for cross- 
examination. 

But, sir, if the honorable member from Pennsylvania could over- 
throw my proposition, he would equally overthrow his friend from 
South Carolina ; because that gentlemen admits, that there must be 
a paper currency of some kind, and that, a paper currency issued 
by the authority of Government. And if we both fall, we shall 
pull down along with us (which mercy forefend !) the Secretary 
of the Treasury, report and all ; for it is one of the leading objects 
of that luminous paper to show how far Government issues might 
usefully become the medium of payment and the means of circula- 
tion. And, indeed, every vote given in Congress for the Treasury 
note bill — the gentleman's own vote, if given, or so far as given, 
on the ground that Treasury notes shall pass from hand to hand as 
currency — is a refutation of his argument. 

Mr. President, this power over the currency, for which I am con- 



233 

tending, is in the Constitution ; the authority of Congress over com- 
merce would be radically deficient without it ; the power has been 
admitted, acknowledged, and exercised. To deny that this power 
is in the Constitution, is to rewrite the Constitution, to reconstruct it, 
to take it away, and give us a substitute. To deny that the power 
has been acknowledged, and exercised, is to contradict history, and 
to reverse facts. 



VOL. III. 30 T* 



REMARKS 

IN SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, JANUARY 10, 1838, 



OH THE FOLLOWING RESOLUTION, MOVED BY MR. CLAY, AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR 
THE FIFTH OF MR. CALHOUN's RESOLUTIONS, VIZ. 



" Resolved, That the interference, by the citizens of any of the States, 
with the view to the abolition of slavery in this District, is endangering 
the rights and security of the people of the District; and that any act or 
measure of Congress, designed to abolish slavery in this District, would 
be a violation of the faith implied in the cessions by the States of Virginia 
and Maryland ; a just cause of alarm to the people of the slave-holding 
States, and have a direct and inevitable tendency to disturb and endanger 
the Union." 

Mr. Webster said he could not concur in this resolution. I do 
not know (said he) any matter of fact, or any ground of argument, 
on which this affirmation of plighted faith can be sustained. I see 
nothing by which Congress has tied up its hands, either directly 
or indirectly, so as to put its clear constitutional power beyond the 
exercise of its own discretion. I have carefully examined the acts 
of cession by the States, the act of Congress, the proceedings and 
history of the times, and I find nothing to lead me to doubt that it 
was the intention of all parties to leave this, like other subjects be- 
longing to the legislation for the ceded territory, entirely to the dis- 
cretion and wisdom of Congress. The words of the constitution 
are clear and plain. None could be clearer or plainer. Congress, 
by that instrument, has power to exercise exclusive jurisdiction 
over the ceded territory, in all cases whatsoever. The acts of 
cession contain no limitation, condition, or qualification whatever, 
except that, out of abundant caution, there is inserted a. proviso that 
nothing in the acts contained should be construed to vest in the 
United States any right of property in the soil, so as to affect the 
rights of individuals therein, otherwise than as such individuals 
might themselves transfer their right of soil to the United States. 
The acts of cession declare, that the tract of country " is forever 
ceded and relinquished to Congress and to the Government of the 
United States, in full and absolute right and exclusive jurisdiction, 

234 



235 

as well of soil as of pereons residing or to reside therein, pursuant 
to the tenor and effect of the 8th section of the 1st article of the 
constitution of the United States." 

Now, that section to which reference is thus expressly made in 
these deeds of cession, declares, that Congress shall have power 
*' to exercise exclusive legislation, in all cases whatsoever, over 
such district, not exceeding ten miles square, as may, by cession 
of particular States and the acceptance of Congress, become the 
seat of Government of the United States." 

Nothing, therefore, as it seems to me, can be clearer than that 
the States making the cession expected Congress to exercise over 
the District precisely that power, and neither more nor less, which 
the constitution had conferred upon it. I do not know how the 
provision, or the intention, either of the constitution in granting the 
power, or of the States in making the cession, could be expressed 
in a manner more absolutely free from all doubt or ambiguity. 

I see, therefore, nothing in the act of cession, and nothing in the 
constitution, and nothing in the history of this transaction, and 
nothing in any other transaction, implying any limitation upon the 
authority of Congress. 

If the assertion contained in this resolution be true, a very strange 
result, as it seems to me, must follow. The resolution affirms that 
the faith of Congress is pledged, indefinitely. It makes no limita- 
tion of time or circumstance. If this be so, then, it is an obligation 
that binds us forever, as much as if it were one of the prohibitions 
of the constitution itself. And at all times hereafter, even when in 
the course of their history, avaihng themselves of events, or chang- 
ing their views of policy, the States themselves should make pro- 
visions for the emancipation of their slaves, the existing state of 
things could not be changed, nevertheless, in this District. It does 
really seem to me, that if this resolution, in its terms, be true, 
though slavery in every other part of the world should be abol- 
ished, yet in the metropolis of this great republic it is established 
in perpetuity. This appears to me the result of the doctrine of 
plighted faith, as stated in the resolution. 

[In reply to Mr. Buchanan — ] 

Mr. Webster said: The words of the resolution will speak for 
themselves. They require no comment. They express an un- 
limited plighted faith. The honorable member will so see, if he 
will look at those words. The gentleman asks whether those who 
made the cession could have expected that Congress would ever 
have exercised such a power. To this I answer, that I see no 
reason to doubt that the parties to the cession were as willing to 
leave this as to leave other powers to the discretion of Congress. 



236 

I see not the slightest evidence of any especial fear, or any especial 
care or concern, on the part of the ceding States, in regard to this 
particular part of the jurisdiction ceded to Congress. And, I think, 
I can ask, on the other side, a very important question for the con- 
sideration of the gentleman himself, and for that of the Senate and 
the country ; and that is, would Congress have accepted the cession 
with any such restraint upon its constitutional power, either ex- 
press or understood to be implied ? I think not. Looking back to 
the state of things then existing, and especially to what Congress 
had done so recently before, when it accepted the cession of the 
North-western Territory, I entertain no doubt whatever, that Con- 
■ gress would have refused the cession, altogether, if offered with 
any condition or understanding that its constitutional authority to 
exercise exclusive legislation over the District in all cases whatso- 
ever should be abridged. 

The Senate will observe that I am speaking solely to the point 
of plighted faith. Upon other parts of the resolution, and upon 
many other things connected with it, I have said nothing. I only 
resist the imposition of new obligations, or a new prohibition, not 
to be found, as I think, either in the constitution or any act of Gov- 
ernment. I have said nothing on the expediency of abolition, im- 
mediate or gradual, or the reasons which ought to weigh with Con- 
gress, should that question be proposed. 1 can well conceive, I 
think, what would be a natural and fair mode of reasoning on such 
an occasion. 

When it is said, for instance, byway of argument, that Congress, 
although it have the power, ought not to take a lead in the 
business of abolition, considering that the interest which the United 
States have in the whole subject i-s vastly less than that which the 
States have in it, I can understand the propriety and pertinency 
of the observation. It is, as far as it goes, a pertinent and appro- 
priate argument, and I shall always be ready to give it the full 
weight belonging to it. When it is argued that, in a case so vital 
to the States, the States themselves should be allowed to maintain 
their own policy, and that the Government of the United States 
ought not to do any thing which shall, directly or indirectly, shake 
or disturb that policy, this is a line of argument which I can under- 
stand, whatever weight I may be disposed to give to it ; for I have 
always not only admitted, but insisted, that slavery, within the 
States, is a subject belonging absolutely and exclusively to the 
States themselves. 

But the present is not an attempt to exhibit any such course of 
reasoning as this. The attempt is to set up a pledge of the public 
faith, to do the same office as a constitutional prohibition, in temns, 
would do ; that is, to set up a direct bar, precluding all exercise 
of the discretion of Congress over the subject. It has been often 



237 

said, in this debate, and I believe it is true, that a decided majority 
of the Senate do beheve that Congress has a clear constitutional 
power over slavery in this District. But while this constitutional 
right is admitted, it is at the same moment attempted to be effec- 
tually counteracted, overthrown, and done away with, by the aifir- 
mation of plighted faith, as asserted in the resolution before us. 

Now, I have already said I know nothing to support this affirma- 
tion. Neither in the acts of cession, nor in the act of Congress 
accepting the District, nor in any other document, history, publica- 
tion, or transaction, do 1 know a single fact or suggestion, support- 
ing this proposition, or tending to support it. Nor has any gentle- 
man, so far as I know, pointed out, or attempted to point out, any 
such fact, document, transaction, or other evidence. All is left to 
the general and repeated statement, that such a condition must have 
been intended by the States. Of all dils I see no proof whatever. 
I see no evidence of any desire on the part of the States thus to 
limit the power of Congress, or thus to require a pledge against its 
exercise. And, indeed, if this were made out, the intention of 
Congress, as well as that of the States, must be inquired into. 
Nodiing short of a clear and manifest intention of both parties, 
proved by proper evidence, can amount to plighted faith. The 
expectation, or intent of one party, if excited, founded on some- 
thing not provided for nor hinted at in the transaction itself, cannot 
plight the faith of the other party. 

In short, I am altogether unable to see any ground for supposing 
that either party to the cession had any mental reservation, any un- 
expressed expectation, or relied on any implied, but unmentioned 
and unsuggested pledge, whatever. By the constitution, if a dis- 
trict should be ceded to it for the seat of Government, Congress 
was to have a right, in express terms, to exercise exclusive legisla- 
tion, in all cases whatsoever. The cession was made and accept- 
ed, in pursuance of this power. Both parties knew well what they 
were doing. Both parties knew that by the cession the States sur- 
rendered all jurisdiction, and Congress acquired all jurisdiction ; and 
this is the whole transaction. 

As to any provision in the acts of cession stipulating for the se- 
curity of property, there is none, except only what I have already 
observed ; this condition, that no right of individuals in the soil 
should be construed to be transferred, but only the jurisdiction. 
But, no doubt, all rights of property ought to be duly respected by 
Congress, and all other Legislatures. 

And since the subject of compensation to the owners of emanci- 
pated slaves has been referred to, I take occasion to say, that Con- 
gress, if it should think that a wise, just, and politic legislation for 
this District required them to make compensation for slaves eman- 
cipated here, they have the same constitutional authority to make 



238 

such compensation as to make grants for roads and bridges, alms- 
houses, penitentiaries, and other similar objects in the District. A 
general and absolute power of legislation carries with it all the 
necessary and just incidents belonging to such legislation. 

[Mr. Clay having made some remarks in reply — ] 

Mr. Webster rejoined. The honorable member from Kentucky 
(said Mr. W.) asks the Senate to suppose the opposite case ; to 
suppose that the seat of Government had been fixed in a free State, 
Pennsylvania, for example ; and that Congress had attempted to 
establish slavery in a district, over which, as here, it had thus ex- 
clusive legislation — he asks whether, in that case, Congress could 
establish slavery in such a place ? This mode of changing the 
question does not, I think, vary this argument ; and I answer, at 
once, that however improbable or improper such an act miglit be, 
yet, if the power were universal, absolute, and widiout restriction, 
it might unquestionably be so exercised. No limitation being ex- 
pressed or intimated in the grant itself, or any other proceeding of 
the parties, none could be implied. 

And, in the other cases, efforts, arsenals, &c., if Congress has 
exclusive and absolute legislative power, it must, of course, have 
the power, if it could be supposed to be guilty of such folly, whether 
proposed to be exercised in a district within a free State, to estab- 
lish slavery, or in a district in a slave State, to abolish or regulate 
it. If it be a district over which Congress has, as it has in this 
District, unlimited power of legislation, it seems to me that what- 
ever would stay the exercise of this power, in either case, must be 
drawn from discretion, from reasons of justice and true policy, from 
those high considerations which ought to influence Congress in 
questions of such extreme delicacy and importance ; and to all these 
considerations I am willing, and always shall be willing, 1 trust, to 
give full weight. But I cannot, in conscience, say that the power, 
so clearly conferred on Congress by the constitution, as a power to 
be exercised, like others, in its own discretion, is immediately taken 
away again by an impKed faith that it shall not be exercised at all. 



REMARKS 



MADE IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, JANUARY 17, 1838, 
IN RELATION TO THE COMMONWEALTH BANK, BOSTON. 

Mr. Webster rose to submit the following resolution: — 

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Treasury be requested to obtain in- 
formation, and lay the same before the Senate, Avith as little delay as possible, 
respecting any payments of pensions, by the late pension agent of Boston, 
or of fishing bounties, recently made by the collector at Boston, in bills of 
the Commonwealth Bank of that city ; and the whole amount of such pay- 
ments ; and that he further inform the Senate by what authority or direction 
payment of such pensions and bounties has been made in such bills ; and 
that he further inform the Senate whether any, and, if any, how much, of the 
public money of the United States is in deposit at said bank ; and, if any 
of such money be therein deposited, at what time or times such deposits 
were made. 

In presenting this resolution, Mr. W. said he felt it to be his duty 
to call the attention of the Senate to the circumstances here alluded 
to, at the earliest opportunity, in order to the institution of an 
official inquiry into the facts of the case, and to obtain information 
■u ith respect to the manner in which the duty of public officers had 
been discharged, in reference to the causes, by which a severe loss 
had been made to fall upon a large number of industrious and 
meritorious citizens. Mr. W. did not submit this resolution for 
inquiry on the ground of mere newspaper rumor. He had received 
letters from highly-respectable private sources, informing him of the 
general facts of the case. He understood the case to be that, at 
the period when the fishing bounties became due, — money well and 
hardly earned, by a laborious, industrious, and worthy class of citi- 
zens, — application for payment was made to the collector at 
Boston, he being the officer charged on the part of the Govern- 
ment with the duty and business of paying this money. That 
officer paid the fishermen, not as the law directs, in specie, or bills 
equivalent to specie, but in the bills of this now broken bank, or in 
checks upon it, which checks, of course, it was known would not 
be paid in specie. Mr. W. had been given to understand that this 
officer refused to pay the bounty due in Treasury notes, when 
asked to do so ; and that he refused also to pay the money in 
specie, although requested ; and that, substantially and in effect^ 

239 



240 

the parties entitled to payment were put to the option of taking the 
paper of this bank, or of taking nothing at all ! This, he said, was 
his information. 

Mr. W. held in his hand a letter from one of the most consider- 
able fishing towns in the State, namely, Marblehead, and he was 
thereby informed that, very shortly before this bank failed, that is, 
within a week or two, or some such period, the money due from 
Government to these fishermen had been paid in the manner de- 
scribed, a large amount of it entirely in the bills and notes of this 
bank. The whole amount of bills of this bank paid out by the 
Government officer on the part of Government, Mr. W. could not 
tell. In Marblehead alone, his letter mentioned ten thousand dol- 
lars ; and he had heard of other similar payments, in other towns ; 
the whole amounting, as report said, to fifty or a hundred thousand 
dollars, and paid out when the bank was on the eve of a total 
crash, and within a few days of its failure ! 

Well, sir, (continued Mr. W.) when the money in these large 
quantities had been paid out, the bank failed ; and all that these 
poor fishermen had received in payment from the United States is 
now dead on their hands. 

Mr. W. wished that a proper inquiry should be made by Con- 
gress into such a state of things, and for this object he had drawn 
the attention of the Senate to the circumstances of the case, with a 
view to the obtaining of information on two points — 1st. As to the 
facts; how far the public officerofthe Government had been engaged 
in paying out the notes of this bank for the dues of the United 
States ; and 2dly. As to the authority ; that is, by what legal au- 
thority the officerofthe United States' Government had made such 
payments, and whether it was done by the direction of the Secre- 
tary of the Treasury, or whether it had been permitted and allowed 
by him. 

Mr. W. thought that however much gentlemen might differ in 
opinion as to the resolution of 1816, whether that resolution was 
the law of the land, or whether it were a mere recommendation or 
admonition, as some had maintained, (though Mr. W. himself had 
always considered it to be a law,) however that question might be 
settled, Mr. VV. had thought that the law now existing, respecting 
payments by the Government, was at least clear and indisputable ; 
so that no one would venture to defend the act of the Government, 
of paying in notes of banks known to be of less value than specie. 

Mr. W. begged to refer to the solemn enactment of Congress, 
made only two years ago. It would be found in the second section 
of the Appropriation bill of 14th April, 1836, and is as follows: — 

" Sec. 2. Aid he it further enacted, That hereafter no bank notes of less 
denomination than ten dollars, and that from and after the tliird day of March, 



241 

Anno Domini eighteen hundred and thirty-seven, no bank notes of less 
denomination than twenty dollars, shall be offered in payment in any case 
whatsoever in which money is to be paid by the United States or tlie Post 
Office Department; nor shall any bank note of any denomination be so 
offered, unless the same shall be payable, and paid on demand, in gold or 
silver coin, at the place where issued, and which shall not be equivalent to 
specie at the place where oflered, and convertible into gold or silver upon 
the spot, at the will of the holder, and without delay or loss to him ; Pro- 
vided, That nothing herein contained shall be construed to make any 
thing but gold or silver a legal tender by an individual, or by the United 
States." 

Would any gentleman rise up and say, in the very teeth of the 
law, that the passing of these large amounts of notes, known not to 
be equivalent to specie, and immediately before the failure of the 
bank, was legal, was justifiable, either on the part of Government or 
its officers ? The law expressly says, " No public officer shall offer 
in payment bank bills not equivalent to specie on the spot where 
they are offered." Will it be said that the United States' officer in 
the present instance did not know that these notes were not equiv- 
alent to specie ? This is not possible ; he knew this bank, like 
others, had not paid specie since May last ; and that since that time 
its bills have not been equivalent to specie. Or will it be said he did 
not know the law ? Certainly the Secretary of the Treasury must 
have drawn the attention of all disbursing officers to this act of 
Congress, 

Mr. W. thought it possible that it might be said, in excuse of this 
transaction, that these poor fishermen and pensioners took this now 
worthless money voluntarily, or at their own option. But whether 
the individual who is to be paid may be made willing to take such 
irredeemable paper or not, the law is direct and peremptory, and 
prohibits the officer from offering it. The consent of an individual, 
therefore, to take it, especially when he can get nothing else, will not 
justify that violation in any quarter. But what consent can that be 
esteemed, what voluntary taking is there in such cases, where a 
man, because he cannot get all that is due to him, is compelled to 
take part, rather than have none ? What is there voluntary about 
it ? This is coercion, and not consent. Congress has not yet ad- 
mitted the notion, and Mr. W. hoped it never would, that the 
receipt of paper under par was voluntary, whenever officers of 
Government could prevail on those who were entitled to the pay- 
ment of money from the United States to take it, under the penalty 
of getting nothing. His letter, indeed, said that specie had been 
asked for, and was refused ; but whether asked for or not, or 
whether the fishermen knew they were entitled to specie or not, it 
was equally the duty of the officer to refrain from offering these bills. 
Mr. W. therefore wished to know by what authority Government, 
or the officers of Government, dispensed with the law. By what 
VOL. III. 31 u 



242 

authority they repealed the statute, or disregarded it. By what 
hcense they had obtained the dispensing power. 

It is (said Mr. W.) a notorious fact that no bank paper was, in the 
present state of the currency, equivalent to specie ; it was refused 
by the Government, who demanded and obtained specie, or Treas- 
ury notes, for debts due to itself. How, tlien, could the collector 
of Boston be justified in passing bad money in fulfilment of one of 
the most sacred duties of the Government, namely, the payment of 
the pensions of the aged and destitute revolutionary pensioners ? 

It is said (though Mr. W. did not himself know the fact to be so) 
that there was a large amount of United States' money in that bank. 
This was also a subject on which Mr. W. was desirous that some 
information should be given to the Senate, for he had heretofore 
understood that the public money had all, or nearly all, been drawn 
out of the bank. Mr. W. wished to know when, and by whom, 
this sum, now understood to be there, was deposited, or how it 
came there. 

Mr. W. did not wish to anticipate debate on the Treasury system 
bill, which was to be brought forward a fortnight hence ; but he 
would, nevertheless, make a remark or two upon two points which 
he wished, as being important truths, might be kept in the constant 
view of Congress and the country. 

The first was, that every notion and idea of justice required that 
there should be one mode of payment by the United States to all 
who were entitled to payments from Government or its officers. 
There was, at present, no uniform medium. Even the Treasury 
notes, which were issued to public creditors, were not all of equal 
value. Some of them carried interest at the rate of five per cent., 
some at the rate of two per cent., and some at the rate of one mill 
per cent. But an interest of one mill 1 1 Mr. W. could not but 
consider it in the highest degree derogatoiy to the dignity and 
character of any Government, to create such a difference in its pay- 
ments, whereby the public creditor received a more or less valu- 
able compensation, not according to his just demands, but according 
to his skill in making a bargain, according to his facility or difficulty 
of being put off with a larger or smaller amount ! 

The other point which he wished now and always to urge, was, 
that, in his opinion, however desirable it might be, as some 
imagined it, to have gold and silver for Government use, so long as 
there is a paper circulation in the country, it is not possible, in the 
nature of things, that Government can so conduct its transactions 
with the People, or keep itself safe, and keep them safe, while the 
general currency of the country is depreciated or deranged. In 
other words, there can be no safety, there can be no security nor 
confidence, even in transactions with Government, except by re- 
forming and restoring the whole currency of the country, and 



243 

establishing a general and uniform medium of payment. It is not 
possible for Government, with any practical utility, to have a sound 
currency only for itself; there must be such a currency for the 
People, and for the country generally. It will not be possible for 
the Government to stand apart, and strengthen itself, and take care 
of itself, and those who deal with it, and secure its own safety and 
theirs, while it neglects to provide for the safety, security, and well- 
being of the whole country. 

He would add nothing to these remarks, further than to say, that 
in this case, and in all similar cases, if loss should turn out to have 
been suffered by individuals in consequence of illegal payments made 
by officers of Government, or in consequence of payments made in 
a depreciated medium, if the officers themselves were not liable to 
make it good, he, for one, should vote to make good every such 
deficiency, to the utmost fartliing, out of the Treasury. 

The following is a copy of one of the letters referred to by Mr. Webster, 
in the course of his remarks, when he also, in referring to it, said, that it was 
at the service of every Senator to see and examine it. 

" Sir : You will, I am satisfied, excuse the liberty I take in addressing you 
those few lines, the subject beino; of the utmost importance to my fellow- 
townsmen. The Government have lately paid to the fishermen of this town 
their bounty money, amounting to something like $20,000. Something 
like $10,000 of tills amount was paid in Commonwealth Bank bills, the re- 
maining 810,000 in bills of other banks. Now, sir, just look at the distress 
that is likely to come upon this poor town by tliis specie-paying Government 
of ours. The Commonwealth Bank has stopped, and .*100 would not buy 
a loaf of bread. The collector of Boston was solicited by a number of 
gentlemen of tiiis town for specie, or even Treasury notes. No ; heM pay 
in no other way but by a check on the Commonwealth Bank. This, sir, is 
a hard case flir tlie poor fishermen of this town, and I am satisfied, you, sir, 
will do what lies in your power (if any tiling can be done) for their relief. 
The poor widow and revolutionary soldier come in also for their part in 
the distress of the town ; many of them, who have received pensions, have 
been paid in Commonwealth Bank bills, and, having full reliance upon the 
Government, have kept the money they had paid them by the Government, 
believing that the Government would not pay them in bad money. 

" I am, dear sir, your obedient servant." 



In Senate, February 6, 1838. 

Mr. Webster rose to move that the report of the Secretary of 
the Treasury, in answer to the resolution of the Senate, calling for 
information respecting the amount of the public moneys in the 
Commonwealth Bank, at Boston, be referred to the Committee on 
Finance. 

In this report, said Mr. Webster, the Secretary says that no in- 



244 ' 

structions were ever given by the Treasury Deparfment to tender 
bank notes of any denomination to public creditors or officers ; and 
he says, at the same time, that it was impracticable to pay all the 
public creditors, esi)ecially on the sea-board, in specie, as sufficient 
could not be collected. The law, therefore, has been plainly one 
way, and the practice the other. The act of Congress says, no bills 
not equivalent to specie shall be offered in payment ; and I com- 
mend this report to the particular and careful perusal of those who 
suppose they can maintain a specie currency for Government, while 
they suffer the general paper currency of the country to be depre- 
ciated. In my opinion, the state of things detailed in this report 
is a correct sample, or a foretaste of what we shall experience, on a 
large scale, when the sub-treasury bill shall have become law, and 
a nominal specie currency, for revenue purposes, shall have been 
established. Although the law now existing is precise and positive, 
that Government officers shall pay all public creditors in specie, or 
bills equivalent to specie, and shall offer them nothing else, yet the 
Secretary says that it has been impracticable to obtain specie for 
this purpose, either of the banks or the merchants ; and this he says 
at a time when there is supposed to be a large quantity of specie in 
the country. Here, then, is exactly such a state of things as we 
propose to estabhsh by sub-treasuries and an exclusive specie cur- 
rency. We see here precisely how the system will work. While 
there are banks (and banks there will be) the specie will inevitably 
get into the banks ; and whenever any disaster happens to the banks, 
so that they suspend specie payments, neither the Government 
nor the merchants can get the specie out. Dues to Government, 
therefore, will not be received in specie, and dues from Government 
will not be paid in specie. On the other hand, if the banks main- 
tain their credit, and redeem their notes in specie on demand, an 
exclusive specie currency will be useless and unnecessary. The 
result of all will be, that an exclusive specie currency will be 
always either unnecessary or impracticable. It will be a superflu- 
ity or an impossibility. 

The following sums of public money appear, by the Secretary's 
report, to be now in deposit in that bank : — 

1st, The sum standing to the credit of the Treasurer of the Uni- 
ted States $39,639 

2d. Sum reported as standing to the credit of the collector 65,941 

3d. Amoimts to the credit of the late pension agency 154,848 

4th. Amount standing to the credit of the commissioners for build- 
ing the custom-house 70,000 

5th. Amount to the credit of Maj. Craig, Ordnance Department 1,119 

6th. Amount to credit of the Post OfR(^e Department 7,644 

7th. Amount to the credit of the Paymaster General 346 

Making a total of $339,537 



245 

Tlie Secretary represents these deposits to have been made, 
generally, before the suspension of specie payments ; but that 
.^150,000 was received by the bank in October and December 
last, on drafts which had been issued by the Treasury in favor of 
the bank before the suspension. IVo money has been directed to 
be deposited in the bank since the suspension. It is not stated 
what security exists for the payment of this large sum, or what is 
the chance of its payment. 

As to the manner in which the bank paid pensions and bounties, 
I find attached to the report a letter from the president of the bank, 
in which he says, that " in all cases where the bills of this bank, or 
any other bank, have been paid by this bank to pensioners, or their 
attorneys, they were voluntarily received by them " 1 The nature 
of these voluntary receipts of payments, in depreciated paper, has 
been sufficiently shown lay the letter and the affidavit which I have 
laid before the Senate. The affidavit seems not to be deficient in 
facts. 

Tl>e statement is — 

" I, Asa Pickering, of Bellingham, in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 
residing at present in Boston, as a member of the Legislature, on oath 
do declare and say, That, on the third day of October now last past, I called 
at the office of the Pension Agent in the city of Boston, to receive a 
pension due to my father, Benjamin Pickering, for revolutionary services. 
He already had on hand a quantity of the bills of the Commonwealth Bank, 
and instructed me to procure other money, if possible. I called, and was 
requested to step into a room to make tlie necessary affidavit, for which I 
was charged, and paid m specie, twenty-five cents. I then received a 
check for sixty-three dollars, and was directed to present the check at the 
opposite counter. I did so, and had tendered to me a fifty dollar bill of the 
Commonwealth Bank, also a ten and a tliree dollar bill of the same bank. 
I declined receiving them, and stated that I wanted something better. I told 
them at least I wanted a little specie ; I should like the thirteen dollars in 
specie. They told me I must take that or notliing. I asked tliem for the ten 
or the three in specie ; both were refused. I then asked at least for the twenty- 
five cents in specie which I had just paid, and it was refused. I then read 
one of their bills to them, and asked if they would pay old revolutioners in 
nothing but lies. I was obliged to take their bills, contrary to my wishes 
and instructions. 

"ASA PICKERING." 

This, too, is a fair specimen of what will happen hereafter, when 
we shall have, nominally, a system of exclusive specie payments 
and receipts. Forty statutes could not forbid payments of bank 
notes more distinctly and peremptorily than the present law forbids 
all payments in depreciated bank notes. Yet, here it is admitted, 
both by the disbursing officers and by the Secretary himself, that 
such depreciated bank notes have been offered in payment and re- 
ceived ; although the very offering of them, that is, the act of pro- 
posing to make payments in such notes, is in the teeth of the act 

u* 



246 

of Congress. So it will be hereafter. The law will be positive 
that nothing but gold and silver shall be offered ; yet paper will be 
offered, and often taken ; and just such contests will arise as that 
which arises in this case ; the Govemment officers insisting that the 
paper was voluntarily received, and the party receiving it, on the 
other hand, insisting, and making oath, that he resisted the receipt 
of it as long as he could, and took it at last simply because he could 
get nothing else. I think any man must be short-sighted who does 
not perceive that occurrences of this sort will be constantly hap- 
pening under a system in which the Government uses, or pretends 
to use, one currency, and the People another. 

But, sir, there is another important matter disclosed in this re- 
port, to which I wish to call the attention of the Senate. 

It is known that during the existence of the Bank of the United 
States, the United States' pensions were paid by that bank, without 
cost or charge ; and as the bank was a safe depository, no losses 
happened to Government or to individuals. 

When the bank charter expired, Congress was called on to 
make some other provision for paying pensions, and the act of 
April 20, 1836, was passed. That act provides that, in future, 
" payments of pensions shall be made by such pei-sons or corpora- 
tions as the Secretary of War may direct, but no compensation or 
allowance shall be made to such persons or corporations for making 
such payments, without authority of lawJ^ 

This act was passed under that clause of the Constitution which 
authorizes Congress, by law, to vest the appointment of such infe- 
rior officers as they think proper in the Heads of Departments. 

Under this law the Secretary of War appointed these officers, 
and a list of them has been recently sent by him to the Senate. 
It will appear from the report from the War Department that, like 
other disbursing officers, they have been called on to give official 
bonds ; and there is no manner of doubt that, to all intents and 
purposes, they are officers under the Government of the United 
States. 

But now to their pay. The act of April 20, 1836, creating the 
office and providing for the appointing of the officer, declares, as I 
have already said, that no allowance or compensation shall be made 
to them, without authority of law. Now, Congress has passed no 
further law on the subject ; and yet how stands the matter of their 
pay ? 

It will be remembered that, in 1834, the President, or Secretary 
of War, before the bank charter expired, undertook to transfer the 
pension funds from the Bank of the United States to the deposit 
banks ; and on that occasion, those deposit banks were told, as 
will be seen by this report, that in consideration of the benefits 



j: 



247 

which they ivould derive from the deposits, no commission or salary 
would be allowed. 

The same course was adopted after the act of 1836 passed ; so that, 
from that time to the present, pension agents, appointed by the 
Secretary of War, get their pay by the use of the Government funds 
in their hands. And I find, by inquiry at the proper source, that 
the general rule is, to advance the necessary funds six months before 
they will be needed ; so that the agent has the use of the money for 
that period ; and when the time comes for paying it to the pen- 
sioners, he pays it, and immediately receives from the Treasury an 
advance for the next six months ; so that he has, the whole year 
round, the use of a sum of money equal to one half the whole 
annual amount of pensions paid at his office. 

¥ov instance, the whole annual amount of pensions, paid at 
Boston, is three hundred and twenty thousand dollars, or there- 
abouts. One half this sum is one hundred and sixty .thousand dol- 
lars ; and the agent, as his compensation for paying the pensions, 
actually enjoys the use of this sum the whole year. 

Suppose the use of the money to be worth six per cent, per an- 
num ; the compensation thus made to the pension agent m Boston is 
more than nine thousand dollars. 

So in New Hampshire, where there are two pension agencies, 
one at Portsmouth, and one at Concord. At the Portsmouth 
agency, thirty-three thousand dollars, or thereabouts, is annually 
paid out. The agent, therefore, has usually on hand the one half 
of this sum, say fifteen thousand five hundred dollars, the interest 
of which would be near a thousand dollars. 

At the Concord pension office, the amount of annual payments 
is sixty-six thousand dollars. One half of this sum being usually 
on hand, the agent receives, for discharging the duties of his office, 
the use of that one half, say of thirty-three thousand dollars, which, 
at the rate of six per cent, per annum, amounts to nineteen hun- 
dred or two thousand dollars. These sums are taken from official 
statements, and I believe are correct ; and the other general facts 
are obtained from authentic sources. 

It w ill probably strike the Senate, in the first place, that these 
rates of compensation are exceedingly large, especially in these days 
of professed economy and reform ; and, in the next place, all will 
admit that this mode of making compensation is the worst in the 
world, as it places the funds of the Government every day at 
hazard. How this mode of making compensation, or this amount 
of compensation, can be reconciled to the words of the act of Con- 
gress, which declare that there shall be no compensation without 
authority of law, I hope some gentleman will undertake to explain. 

In most cases, but I believe not in all, the list will show these 



248 

agents are presidents of State banks; but the appointments, never- 
theless, are personal appointments, and the banks themselves are 
not responsible for the agents' fidelity. As I have already said, the 
agents, like other disbursing officers of Government, give bonds for 
the due discharge of the duties of their office. I trust, sir, tliat the 
Committee on Finance will see the necessity of some further legal 
provision on this subject. 

Since I am speaking on this subject, I will (said ]Mr. W.) take 
leave to make a remark or two on a personal matter. The Globe 
of Saturday, still pursuing a course of meddling with the private 
concerns of public men, which course, nevertheless, it admits is ex- 
ceedingly despicable, reiterates charges of my having had paper dis- 
honored at this Commonwealth Bank. The obvious object of all 
this, as of the former article, it is evident, is to hold out an appear- 
ance that I owe the bank, or have owed it in times past. I think 
it very likely that, by the time this statement of the Globe gets a 
hundred miles from Washington, it will be so amplified as to repre- 
sent me as an acknowledged debtor to the bank to a great amount ; 
and, by the time it gets over the mountains, the failure of the bank 
will be mainly ascribed, very possibly, to its loans to me. I repeat, 
therefore, that I never owed the bank a dollar, so far as I remem- 
ber, nor ever had^any pecuniary transaction with it whatever. 

The statement is, that a bill drawn by me, and accepted, was 
sent to the bank for collection, and not duly paid by the acceptor. 
It was of course returned upon the drawer, and duly paid and taken 
up by him. All this is very unimportant and innocent; but it is 
stated as if with studious design to represent me as a debtor to the 
bank ; whereas, in the first place, the bank had no interest in it 
whatever ; and, in the second place, it was duly paid by the draw- 
er on the acceptor's neglect. As to any acceptance of my own, 
sent to that bank for collection, being protested, I never heard of it, 
to ray knowledge. If such a thing happened, it must have been 
accidental, and owing to some mistake as to the day, which was 
seasonably corrected. Nor can it be true that any note or bill with 
my name on it was handed over to another bank on the failure of 
this Commonwealth Bank, unless it was some dead note or bill 
which had been already paid to tliose who were entitled to receive 
payment. This apparent and obvious purpose of representing me 
as a debtor to the bank, or as ever having been a borrower at it, is 
founded in sheer misrepresentation and falsehood. 

I perceive that the directors, or officers, of this bank have been 
busying themselves to help out the statements of the Globe ; yet 
no one of them says I ever owed the bank a dollar in the world ; 
they might, I think, be better employed. It has been stated pub- 
licly that these officers have helped themselves to loans, from their 
own bank, to an amount exceeding the amount of all its capital, and 



249 

then failed, bank and all, leaving a prodigious mass of unredeemed 
paper upon the hands of the Public. I know not how this may 
be ; but, until the charge is cleared up, one should think tliey 
might find better employment than in attempting to bolster up slan- 
derous imputations against their neighbors, and attacking people 
who have not the misfortune to owe them any thing. 

In reply to Mr. Niles, Mr. Webster remarked — 

The law says, in so many words, that these pension agents shall 
receive no compensation without provision by law ; and the Secre- 
tary, in making compensation, has of course done it without law. 
I have a right to the fact. The Secretary makes the appointments, 
generally, of the president or some other officer of a bank, and the 
appointment is entirely personal ; the bond is personal ; the bond 
was directly to the United States ; and this proves conclusively 
that the officer is an officer of the United States. No bank is 
named in the bond ; in those which I have seen, — and I have ob- 
tained the common form from the office, — I do not find that the 
agent is named or described as president or cashier of any bank. 
The appointment is simply of A B as agent for paying pensions in 
a certain place ; and A B gives his own bond, directly to the Uni- 
ted States, with sureties, for the faithful discharge of his duties. 
If the agent, in any case, be connected with any bank, and 
desire to leave the money on deposit in that bank, instead of 
using it himself, that is matter of arrangement between him and the 
bank. All this makes no difference ; it does not diminish the 
amount of compensation ; it does not change the nature of the office. 
The agent is an officer, appointed by authority of law, and acting 
under bonds to the United States, and receiving, as it appears by 
this report, a very large compensation. I have nothing to do now 
with the deposit system ; all 1 say is, that this kind of management 
ought not to go on, making, as every one must admit, a very great 
allowance for compensation, far loo large. And what occasion is 
there of hazarding all this money ? I speak, however, only of the 
existing state of things, as a subject which the Senate must perceive 
requires a remedy. There is a personal appointment of a certain 
officer by law ; and therefore there is in effect a personal emolu- 
ment to the amount which I have stated ; at least it is as large as 
that at Boston, and may be larger elsewhere. 
VOL. III. 32 



REMARKS 



ON THE PREEMPTION BILL, MADE IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED 

STATES, JANUARY 29, 1838. 



The following bill to grant preemption rights to actual settlers on the public 
lands being on its passage, viz. : 

A BILL TO GRANT PREEMPTION RIGHTS TO SETTLERS ON THE 

PUBLIC LANDS. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled, That every actual settler of the 
public lands, being the head of a fomily, or over twenty-one years of age, 
who was in possession, and a housekeeper by personal residence thereon, 
on or before the first day of December, eighteen hundred and thirty-seven, 
shall be entitled to all the benefits and privileges of an act, entitled " An Act 
to grant preemption rights to settlers on the public lands," approved May 
twenty-ninth, eighteen hundred and thirty ; and the said act is hereby re- 
vived and continued in force two years, Provided, That wiiere more than ono 
person may have settled upon and cultivated any one quarter section of land, 
each one of tliem shall have an equal share or interest in the said quartet 
section, but shall have no claim, by virtue of tiiis Act, to any other land : An I 
provided, always. That tliis act shall not be so construed as to give a right 
of preemption to any person or persons in consequence of any settlement or 
improvement made before the extinguishment of the Indian title to the land 
on which such settlement or improvement was made, or to any land spe- 
cially occupied or reserved for town lots, or other purposes, by authority of 
the United States; And provided further, That nothing herein contained 
shall be construed to affect any of the selections of public lands for the 
purposes of education, the use of salt springs, or for any other purpose, 
which may have been or may be made by any State under existing laws of 
the United States ; but this Act shall not be so construed as to deprive those 
of the benefits of this Act, who have inhabited, according to its provisions, 
certain fractions of the public lands within the land district of Palmyra, in 
the State of Missouri, which were reserved from sale in consequence of the 
surveys of Spanish and French grants, but are found to be without the lines 
of said grants. 



Mr. Webster rose and said, that whatever opposition might be 
made to this bill, in his opinion, some provision of this nature was 
necessary and proper, and therefore he had supported it, and he 
should now vote for its final passage. 

Although entirely indisposed (said Mr. VV.) to adopt any meas- 
ure which may prejudice the public interest, or trifle with this 
great subject, and opposed at all times to all new schemes and pro- 
jects, I still think the time has come when we must, from necessity, 



250 



251 

propriety, and justice, make some provision for the existing case. 
We are not now at the moment when preemption rights are first to 
be granted ; nor can we recall die past. The state of things now 
actually existing must be regarded. To this our serious attention is 
summoned. There arc now known to be many thousands of setders 
on public lands, either not yet surveyed, or the surveys not yet re- 
turned ; or if surveyed, not yet brought into market for sale. 

Tlie first question naturally is, How came they there ? How 
did this great number of persons get on the public lands ? And to 
this question it may be truly answered, that they have gone on to 
the lands under the encouragement of previous acts of Congress. 
They have settled and built houses, and made improvements, in the 
persuasion that Congress would deal with them in the same manner 
as it has, in repeated instances, dealt with others. This has been 
the universal sentiment and expectation. Others have settled on 
the ])ublic lands, certainly with less encouragement from acts of 
Congress than these settlei-s have had, and yet have been allowed 
a preemption right. These settlers, therefore, have confidently 
looked for the same privilege. 

Another circumstance is fit to be mentioned. Very large pur- 
chases of the public land are known to have been made in 1835 
and 1836. These purchases exceeded the quantity necessaiy for 
actual settlement ; and they were made, in many cases, in large 
tracts, by companies or by large single proprietors, who purchased 
for purposes of investment, and with a view to retain the lands until 
their value should be enhanced by the general settlement and im- 
provement of the country. These purchases would be, of course, 
of the best and freshest lands in the market ; that is, they would be 
in the most recent surveys, or, in other words, in the surveyed dis- 
tricts most advanced in the interior. Now, I have understood from 
good authority, that it has often happened in the North-west, (and 
of the South-west I know little,) that persons disposed to purchase 
and setde on the frontier have, in many instances, found themselves 
unable to buy to their satisfaction, either of Government or individ- 
uals. Government had sold the best lands to companies or to in- 
dividual proprietors, and these last were disposed to keep, and not 
to sell ; or they or their agents were either unknown, or were 
living in distant parts of the country, so that application to purchase 
could not readily be made to them. 

These circumstances, there can be no doubt, created a new in- 
centive to pass beyond the surveys set down on the public domain, 
and trust to Congress for a preempdon right, such as had been 
granted in previous instances. The result of these causes is, that 
setdements have become quite extensive, and the number of peo- 
ple very large. In that part of Wisconsin which lies west of the 
Mississippi, there are supposed to be from thirty to fifty thousand 



252 

inhabitants. Over this region Congress has extended civil govern- 
ment, established courts of law, and encouraged the building of 
villages and towns ; and yet the country has not been brought into 
the market for sale, except it may be small quantities for the sites 
of villages and towns. In other parts of Wisconsin a similar state 
of things exists, especially on and near the border of Lake Michigan, 
where numerous settlements have been made and commercial towns 
erected, some of them already of considerable importance, but 
where the title to the land still remains in the Government. Sim- 
ilar cases exist in Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan, and probably also 
in the South-western States. 

Now, (said Mr. W.,) the practical question is, What is to be 
done in these cases ? What are we to do with those settlers, their 
improvements, and the lands on which they live ? Is there any 
one who would propose or desire that these lands should be put up 
at open auction, improvements and all, and sold to the highest 
bidder, without any regard whatever to the interest or protection 
of the settlers ? For my part, I could propose no such thing, nor 
by any means consent to any such thing. 

Nor do I suppose that there could be such an auction, and that 
other persons could attend and bid at it freely, and overbid the 
actual settlers for their own settlements and improvements, without 
disturbance and violation of the public peace. Nor would a dollar 
of money, in my judgment, be realized by the Treasury by such 
a course of proceeding, beyond what would be received for the same 
lands under this law. As to the general justice of the bill, its 
policy, or the degree of indulgence which it holds out to those who 
have become settlers, it ought to be remembered — 

1. That it applies only to those who have now already settled on 
the public lands. And I am quite willing to concur with others in 
carrying out the recommendations of the President's Message, by 
adopting such measures, for the future, as may be thought wise and 
reasonable, and as shall prevent the recurrence hereafter of any ne- 
cessity for laws like this. 

2. The bill makes no donation or gratuity. It grants only a pre- 
emption right ; a right of previous purchase, at the price for which 
the greater part of the public lands has been, and now is, actually 
sold. 

3. It gives this right only to the extent of one quarter section ; 
not more than a reasonable quantity for a farm, in the estimation 
of the inhabitants of these new and vast regions. 

4. It gives the right only to heads of families, or householders, 
actually settled and residing on the tract. 

And, in my opinion, it is much in favor of this bill, that what it 
does grant, it grants (where the requisite proof is made) at once 



253- 

and forever, without mischievous qualifications, and conditions sub- 
sequent, such as formed part of the bill of last year. 

It has been proposed to amend this bill, so as to limit Its benefits 
to native or naturalized citizens of the United States. 

Although I have heretofore been disposed to favor such a propo- 
sition, yet, on the whole, I think it ought not to pass ; because 
such a limitation has been altogether unknown In our general system 
of land sales ; and to Introduce It here, where we are acting on 
rights already acquired, would be both invidious and unjust. 

It has been proposed, also, so to amend the bill as to require that 
the settler, In addition to the dollar and a quarter per acre, should 
pay one half the actual value of the land above that sum ; this 
value to be ascertained by appraisers, appointed by the register of 
the land-ofRce. I could not agree to this amendment ; because, in 
the first place, we have never adopted the principle of selling lands 
on appraisement ; but, secondly and mainly, because, If these settlers 
have had any ground or reason to expect a preemption right from 
Congress, (which is the substantial foundation of the bill,) they 
have had, and now have, reason to expect It, on the same terms on 
which it has been granted to others. 

Mr. President, that there may be some undeserving persons 
amono; these settlers, I do not doubt. That the advantages of this 
1)111 may be enjoyed, In some cases, by those who are not actual 
settlers, with honest, bo7ia fide purpose of permanent residence, Is 
very probable. But I believe the great majority of the cases to 
which the bill will apply will be such as ought to be relieved. I 
believe the bill is the readiest way of quieting these titles and pos- 
sessions, which the public interest requires should. In some way, be 
quieted without further delay. Indeed, no course Is proposed but 
either to pass this bill, or to bring the lands at once to public auc- 
tion, open to the biddings of all. This last course, I am persuaded, 
would result in no gain whatever to the Treasury, whilst it might 
be attended with serious inconveniences to the public, and would 
be sure to throw whole neighborhoods, villages, and counties. Into 
a state of much excitement, nmch perplexity, and much distress. 
Both for the general Interests of the country, and for the Interest 
and protection of the settler, I am of opinion that the bill ought to 
pass. 

In answer to Mr. Clay — 

Mr. Webster said that, notwithstanding the surprise which it 
had pleased the honorable member from Kentucky to express at 
his support of this bill, he should continue that support; but he did 
not feel It necessary to go into any elaborate defence of his vote. 

V 



•254 

The bill, (said Mr. W.,) it is well ascertained, will pass the Senate 
by a large majority. Of its fate elsewhere, I know nothing, either 
certainly or probably. But, since no doubt is entertained of its 
passage here, I have desired, and still desire, only to say so much 
as may show the ground of my own opinion in its favor. 

Sir, the difference between the member from Kentucky and my- 
self, on this occasion, is plain and distinct. It is precisely this: 

He is altogether against the preemptive right. He is for carry- 
ing into operation the law, as it stands, and for giving it effect over 
the lands on which these settlers live, in the same way as over 
other public lands. He is for putting all these lands up to open 
auction, and selling them to the highest bidder, letting the settler 
take the consequence. He says there should be an auction, and a 
free auction ; and he argues, with that consistency and cohesion of 
ideas which belongs to him, that if there is to be a public auction, 
as he insists there ought to be, then there must be, and ought to be, 
a perfectly free competition ; that it should be as open to one man 
to bid, as another ; that no man, or men, ought to be privileged or 
favored ; that it is ridiculous to talk of an auction, at which one 
man may bid, and another may not ; or an auction, at which some 
bidders are told that others must have preference. He, therefore, 
is for a free sale, open to every body, and to be conducted in that 
manner which shall insure the receipts of the greatest sum of 
money into the Treasury. Now, 1 say at once, plainly and dis- 
tinctly, that this is not my object. I have other views. I wish, in 
the first place, to preserve the peace of the frontier ; and I wish, 
also, to preserve and to protect the reasonable rights of the settlers ; 
because I think they have rights which deserve to be protected. 
These are my objects. Sir, if we could order an auction here, in 
this city, or elsewhere, out of all possible control of the settlers, and 
far from all fear of any influence of theirs, and could there sell the 
lands they live on, and their improvements, for their utmost value, 
and put the proceeds of the whole into the Treasury, it would be 
the very last thing I should ever do. God forbid that I should 
make gain and profit out of the labors of these settlers, and carry 
that gain into the Treasury. I did not suppose any man would 
desire that. I did not suppose there was any one who would con- 
sent that the increased value of these lands, caused by the labor, the 
toil, and the sweat of the settlers, should be turned to the advantage 
of the national Treasury. Certainly, certainly, sir, I shall oppose 
all proceedings leading to such a result. Yet the member from 
Kentucky has nothing to propose, but to sell the lands at auction 
for the most they will bring, at a sale which he says ought to be 
perfectly free and open to every body, and to carry the proceeds 
into the Treasury, tjct the sales go on ; that is his doctrine. Let 
the laws take their course, he says, since we live under a Govern- 



255 

ment of laws. Have a sale, make It free and open, and make the 
most of it. Let the Government take care that every body, who 
wishes to bid, be as free to do so as any other ; and that no combi- 
nation, no privilege, no preemption, be suffered to exist. 

Now, sir, in my opinion, all this is what we cannot do, if we 
would ; and what we ought not to do, if we could. I do not believe 
we can have an auction, under existing circumstances, such as the 
gentleman insists upon. The known condition of things renders it 
impossible. The honorable member thinks otherwise. He will 
not agree, he says, that the President, with the militia and the 
army, cannot protect the authorities in maintaining a fair and open 
sale. Sir, is it discreet, is it prudent, to refer to such a recourse as 
that? Is it not greatly wiser, and greatly better, to remove the 
occasion, which may be done without injury to the Government, 
and in perfect consistency with the rights of others, rather than to 
think of such measures as have been suggested ? For one, 1 dis- 
claim all such policy. 

1 place my support of the bill, therefore, upon the indispensable 
necessity of doing something ; upon the impolicy of longer delay ; 
upon the fair claims of the settlers to all which this bill proposes for 
their benefit ; and upon the impolicy, the injustice, and, I may say, 
the impossibility, of other courses which have been suggested. 

The honorable member recalls our recollection to the fact, that 
the Senate has refused to make any prospective measure to prevent 
this evil for the future. It has done so, so far as the vote on the 
proposed amendment went. But what then ? Because a majority 
is not inclined, now, to provide for the future, is that a reason why 
we should make no provision for the present? 

Sir, the true tendency of this bill will be to prevent, or to miti- 
gate, those scenes at the public sales, which have been so often 
alluded to. If you pass this bill, the settler will go to the land- 
office, prove his preemption right, and get his certificate. He will 
then have no business, so far as his homestead is concerned, at the 
public sales. He will be quieted in his possession, and at peace. 
If you do not pass it, he must attend the public sales; the whole 
country must be there ; every man must be present, because every 
man's liome is to be sold over his head : and how is it possible that 
much feeling and great excitement should not prevail among a large 
multitude assembled for such a purpose ? Business, to be conduct- 
ed under such circumstances, can take but one course ; and we all 
know what that is. This bill diminishes temptation to form com- 
binations, or to do any unlawful or irregular act. It is a bill of 
peace and repose. It is to secure men in their possessions ; to 
quiet them in their own homes ; to give to them that sense of secu- 
rity, that consciousness of safe ownership, which make men's houses 
and homesteads dear and valuable to them. 



256 

In further reply to Mr. Clay — 

I do not intend, Mr. President, to go further into this debate than 
is necessary to keep my own course clear. Other gentlemen act 
upon the result of their own reasoning ; I act on the result of mine, 
and wish to explain and defend that result, so far as it may require 
defence or explanation. 

I have placed this bill on the fair right of the settler, founded on 
the encouragement which Congress has held out by previous laws. 
I have asked whether this right of the honest, bona fide settler, is 
to be disregarded and sacrificed. The honorable member from 
Kentucky now answers that this right will be amply protected at 
the sale ; that nobody will bid against an honest, bona fide settler; 
that at the sale all these cases will be carefully sifted and examined, 
and justice done to each case respectively. Why, sir, this is ^ 
good deal inconsistent, I think, with the character of those sales, as 
we have heard them described. If what has been said of them be 
true, they are the last places, and the last occasions, for any thing 
to be sifted or examined. The gentleman himself has said, that at 
these sales it is enough to cry out " Settler's right," to prevent all 
interference. No, sir ; it is not at these sales that siftino; and 
examination are to be had. Examination can only be had at tiie 
land-office, before sworn officers, on sworn proofs, and according to 
the provisions of this bill. Such an examination as that can be 
had, if the officers will do their duty ; and the result will do justice 
to the Government, and justice to the settlers. 

Much has been said of the general character of these settlers. 
I have no extensive information, sir, on that point, and had not in- 
tended to say any thing upon it. But it has so happened that I 
have recently been in the North-west, and have met, for a short 
time, with many of these settlers; and, since they have been 
spoken of here with so much harshness, I feel bound to say that, so 
far as my knowledge of them goes, they do not deserve it. Un- 
doubtedly, sir, they are trespassers in the contemplation of law. 
They know that very well. They are on the public lands without 
title ; but then they say that the course of the Government hereto- 
fore has been such as to induce and encourafje them to co where 
they are ; and that they are ready and willing to do all that Gov- 
ernment has required from others in similar circumstances ; that is, 
to pay for the lands at the conmion price. They have the general 
character of frontiersmen : they are hardy, adventurous, and enter- 
prising. They have come from far, to establish themselves and 
fatnilies in new abodes in the West. They appeared to me to be 
industrious and laborious ; and I saw nothing in their character or 
conduct that should justly draw upon them expressions of con- 
tumely and reproach. 



257 

In answer to Mr. Davis — 

As I have the misfortune, on this occasion, to differ from my 
colleague, (for whom 1 entertain so much deference and so much 
warm regard, that it is always painful for me to differ from him,) I 
might naturally be supposed to be desirous of replying to his 
remarks at some length. At this late hour, however, I shall forego 
that privilege. I will confine what I have to say to two or three 
points. 

In the first place, I wish to say that I cannot concede to my col- 
league, and those who act with him on this occasion, the vantage- 
ground which he and they seem to claim. I cannot agree that they 
only are acting for the whole people ; and that we, who are in 
favor of this bill, are acting for a few only. My opinion is — and 
my ground is — that the interest of the whole country, as well as 
the just protection of the setders, requires the passage of this bill. 
The whole country has an interest in quieting these claims ; the 
bill proposes to quiet them ; and, in that respect, is for the advan- 
tage of the whole country. 

In the next place, I wish to say that I do not think it just to say 
of this bill, that it proposes to give away the public lands ; to exer- 
cise a gratuitous bounty to the settlers ; to make a mere gift of the 
public property to a few, at the expense of the many. 

The bill proposes no gift at all ; it bestows no gratuitous bounty. 
It grants exacdy what it proposes to grant, and that is, a right of 
purchase, a preemption ; the privilege of retaining the quarter 
section upon which each man is settled, paying for it the common 
price. This the bill grants, and it grants no more. 

My worthy colleague seems to think this bill opposed to the 
policy upon which we supported the land bill some sessions ago. 
I do not diink so. I think it quite consistent with that policy. 

If the land bill had passed, and w^ere now^ a law, and in full 
operation, I should still support this bill as the best mode of sell- 
ing — not giving away — but of selling, the lands to which the bill 
applies, and getting payment for them. If the proceeds of the 
public lands were to go to the States, I should still think that the 
true interest of the States required tliat this bill should become a 
law. 

My colleague complains, also, that the bill holds out great in- 
ducements to foreigners to come among us and settle on the public 
lands. He says it is an invitation to the nations of Europe to open 
their work-houses and send hither all theii- paupers. Now, sir, in 
all candor, is this the just character of the bill? Does it propose 
any change in our law in respect to foreigners ? Certainly it does 
not. Always a foreigner could come here ; always he could buy 
land at the minimum price ; always he stood on an exact footing 
VOL. III. 33 V* 



258 



of equality, in this particular, with our own citizens. And would 
my worthy colleague now make a difference by this bill ? If two 
settlers are found on the frontier, each on his own quarter section, 
each with a family, and each living under a roof erected by his own 
hands, and on the produce of fields tilled by his own labor, the one 
a citizen, and the other a foreigner not yet naturalized, would my 
colleague make a difference, and confirm the settlement of one, and 
break up that of the other? No, I am sure, sir, he would do no 
such thing. His sense of justice and his good feeling would revolt 
from such a course of action as quick as those of any living human 
being. 

Mr. President, there are some other remarks of my colleague to 
which I should have been glad to have made some answer. But I 
will forbear. I regret, most exceedingly, that we differ on this oc- 
casion. I know he desires to do justice to those settlers, and to all 
others ; and I cannot but persuade myself that, on further reflection, 
he will be of opinion that some such measure as the present ought 
to be adopted ; because there is no man who, to a high regard for 
the public interest, unites a greater sense of the justice which is due 
to individuals. 



SPEECH 



ON THE SUB-TREASURY BILL, DELIVERED IN THE SENATE OF 
THE UNITED STATES, JANUARY 31, 1838. 



" Let the Government attend to its own business, and let the people 
attend to theirs." 

" Let the Government take care that it secures a sound currency for its 
own use, and let it leave all tlie rest to the States and to tlie people." 

These ominous sentences, Mr. President, have been ringing in 
my ears ever since they were uttered yesterday, by the member 
from New York. Let the Government take care of itself, and let 
the people take care of themselves. Tliis is the whole principle 
and policy of the administration, at the present most critical mo- 
ment, and on this great and all-absorbing question of the currency. 

Sir, this is an ill-boding announcement. It has nothing of con- 
solation, of solace, or of hope in it. 

It \\ ill carry through all the classes of commerce and business 
nothing but more discouragement, and deeper fears. And yet it 
is but repetition. It is only a renewed exhibition of the same 
spirit, which was breathed by the message, and the bill of the last 
session, of which this bill is also full, and which has pervaded all 
the recommendations, and all the measures of Government, since 
May. Yet I confess that I am not, even yet, so familiar with it, 
so accustomed to hear such sentiments avowed, as that they cease 
to astonish me. I am either groping in thick and palpable dark- 
ness myself, in regard to the true objects of the constitution, and 
the duties of Congress under it, or else these principles of public 
policy, thus declared, are at war with our most positive and urgent 
obligations. 

The honorable member made other observations indicative of 
the same general tone of political feeling. Among his chosen top- 
ics of commendation of the bill before us, a prominent one was, to 
shelter the administration from that shower of imputations, as he 
expressed the idea, which would always beat upon it, as it beats 
now, when disasters should happen to the currency. Indeed ! 
And why should the administration, now or ever, be sheltered 
from that shower ? Is not currency a subject over which the pow- 
er and duty of Government extend ? Is not Government justly 

259 



260 

responsible for Its condition ? Is it not, of necessity, wholly and 
entirely under the control and regulation of political power ? Is it 
not a matter, in regard to which, the people cannot, by any possi- 
bility, protect themselves, any more than they can, by their own 
individual efforts, supersede the necessity of the exercise, by Gov- 
ernment, of any other political power ? What can the people do 
for themselves to improve the currency ? Sir, the Government is 
jusdy answerable for the disasters of the currency, saving always 
those accidents which cannot at all times be foreseen or provided 
against. It is at least answerable for its own neglect, if it shall be 
guilty of it, in not exercising all its constitutional authority for the 
correction and restoration of the currency. Why does it, how 
can it, shrink from this responsibility ? Why does it retreat from 
its own duty ? Why does it seek, not the laurels of victory, not 
the reputation even of manly contest, but the poor honors of studied 
and eager escape? Sir, it never can escape. The common sense 
of all men pronounces that the Government is, and ought to be, 
and must be, answerable for the regulation of the currency of the 
country ; that it ought to abide, and must abide, the peltings of 
the storm of imputation, so long as it turns its back upon this mo- 
mentous question, and seeks to shelter itself in the safes and the 
vaults, the cells and the caverns, of a sub-Treasury system. 

But of all Governments that ever existed, the present administra- 
tion has least excuse for withdrawing its care from the currency, or 
shrinking from its just responsibility in regard to it. 

Its predecessor, in whose footsteps it professes to tread, has in- 
terfered, fatally interfered, with that subject. That interference 
was, and has been, the productive cause of our disasters. Did the 
administration disclaim power over the currency in 1833, when it 
removed the deposits? And what meant all its subsequent 
transactions, all its professions, and all its efforts, for that better 
currency which it promised, if in truth it did not hold itself respon- 
sible to the people of the United States, for a good currency ? 
From the very first year of the late administration to the last, there 
was hardly a session, if there was a single session, in which this 
duty of Government was not acknowledged, promises of high im- 
provement put forth, or loud claims of merit asserted, for benefits 
already conferred. It professed to erect the great temple of its 
glory on improvements of the currency. And, sir, the better cur- 
rency which has been so long promised, was not a currency for the 
Government, but a currency for the people. It was not for the 
use of revenue merely, but for the use of the whole commerce, 
trade, and business of the nation. And now, when the vyhole in- 
dustry, business, and labor of the country, is harassed and distressed, 
by the evils brought upon us by its own interference. Government 
talks with all possible coolness, of the great advantage it will be to 



261 

adopt a system, which shall shield itself from a thick-falling shower 
of imputations. It disclaims, it renounces, it abandons its duties, 
and then seeks an inglorious shelter in its professed want of power 
to relieve the people. 

We demand the better currency ; we insist on the fulfilment of 
the high and flattering promises ; and surely there never was a 
Government on the face of the earth, that could, with less propriety, 
resist the demand ; yet, we see it seek refuge in a bold, cold, and 
heartless denial of the competency of its own constitutional powers. 
It falls back from its o\\ n undertakings, and flady contradicts its 
own pretensions. In my opinion, it can find no refuge, where the 
public voice will not reach it. There can be no shelter while these 
times last, into which Government can retreat, wherein it can hide, 
and screen itself from the loud voice of the country, calling upon it 
to come forth to fulfil its promises ; or, at least, now that these 
promises are all broken, to perform its duties. The evils of a dis- 
ordered currency are evils which do not naturally correct or cure 
themselves. Nor does chance, or good luck, often relieve that 
community which is suffering under them. They require political 
remedy ; they require provis'on to be made by Government ; 
they demand the skilful hand of experienced statesmen. Until 
some just remedy be applied, they are likely to continue, with 
more or less of aggravation, and no man can tell when or how 
they will end. It is vain, therefore, quite vain, for Government 
to liope that it may retreat from this great duty, shield itself 
under a system, no way agreeing either with its powers or its ob- 
ligations, and thus escape reproaches, by attempting to escape re- 
sponsibility. 

Mr. President, there is fault, and failure somewhere. Either 
the Constitution has failed, or its administration fails. The great 
end of a uniform and satisfactory regulation of commerce is not an- 
swered, because the national currency, an indispensable instrument 
of that commerce, is not preserved in a sound and uniform state. 

Is the fault in the constitution itself? Those who affirm that it 
is, must show how it was, if that be so, that other administrations, 
in other times, have been able to give the people abundant satis- 
fliction in relation to the currency. I suppose it will be said, in 
answer to this, that the constitution has been violated ; that it was 
originally misconstrued ; that those who made it did not understand 
it; and that the sage and more enlightened politicians of our times 
see deeper, and judge more jusdy of the constitution, than Wash- 
ington and Madison. Certain it is diat they have more respect 
for their own sagacity than for all the wisdom of others, and all the 
experience of the country ; or else they find themselves, by their 
party politics and party commitments, cut off from all ability of ad- 
ministering the constitution according to former successful practice. 



262 

Mr. President, when I contemplate the condition of the country; 
when I behold this utter breaking down of the currency ; this 
wide-spread evil among all the industrious classes; this acknowl- 
edged inability of Government to pay its debts legally ; this pros- 
tration of commerce and manufactures; this shocking derangement 
of internal exchange, and the general crash of credit and confi- 
dence ; and when I see that three hundred representatives of the 
people are here assembled to consult on the public exigency ; and 
that, repudiating the wisdom of our predecessors, and rejecting all 
the lights of our own experience, nothing is proposed, for our 
adoption, to meet an emergency of this character, but the bill be- 
fore us, I confess, sir, the whole scene seems to me to be some 
strange illusion. I can hardly persuade myself that we are all in 
our waking senses. It appears like a dream — like some phantasy 
of the night, that the opening light of the morning usually dispels. 

There is so little of apparent relation of means to ends ; the 
measure before us has so little to promise for the relief of existing 
evils ; it is so alien, so outlandish, so abstracted, so remote from the 
causes which press down all the great public interests, that I really 
find it difficult to regard as real what is thus around me. 

Sir, some of us are strangely in error. The difference between 
us is so wide ; the views which we take of public affairs so oppo- 
site ; our opinions, both of the causes of present evils, and their 
appropriate remedies, so totally unlike, that one side or the other 
must be under the influence of some strange delusion. Darkness. 
thick darkness, hangs either over the supporters of this measure, or 
over its opponents. Time and the public judgment, I trust, will 
sooner or later disperse these mists, and men and measures will be 
seen in their true character. I think, indeed, that I see already 
some lifting up of the fog. 

The honorable member from New York has said that we have 
now, already existing, a mode of conducting the fiscal affairs of the 
country, substantially such as that will be which this bill will es- 
tablish. We may judge, therefore, he says, of the future by the 
present. A sub-Treasury system, in fact, he contends is now in 
operation ; and he hopes the country sees so much good in it, as 
to be willing to make it permanent and perpetual. 

The present system, he insists, must at least be admitted not to 
have obstructed or impeded the beneficial action of the immense 
resources of the country. Sir, this seems to me a most extraordi- 
nary declaration. The operation and energy of the resources of 
the country not obstructed ! The business of the community not 
impeded ! Why, sir, this can only be true, upon the supposition 
that present evils are no way attributable to the policy of Govern- 
ment ; that they all spring from some extraneous and independent 
cause. If the honorable member means that the disasters which 



26S 

have fallen upon us arise from causes which Government cannot 
control, such as overtrading or speculation, and that Government 19 
answerable for nothing, I can understand him, though I do not at 
all concur with him. But that the resources of the country- 
are not now in a state of great depression and stagnation, is what I 
had supposed none would assert. Sir, what are the resources of 
the country ? The first of all, doubtless, is labor. Does this meet 
no impediment ? Does labor find itself rewarded, as heretofore, 
by high prices, paid in good money ? The whole mass of industry 
employed in commerce and manufactures, does it meet with no 
obstruction, or hinderance, or discouragement ? And commerce 
and manufactures, in the aggregate, embracing capital as well as 
labor, are they, too, in a high career of success ? Is nothing of 
impediment or obstruction found connected with their present con- 
dition ? 

Again, sir ; among our Ameiican resources, from the very first 
origin of this Government, credit and confidence have held a high 
and foremost rank. We owe more to credit and to commercial 
confidence than any nation which ever existed ; and ten times 
more than any nation, except England. Credit and confidence 
have been the life of our system, and powerfully productive causes 
of all our prosperity. They have covered the seas with our com- 
merce, replenished the Treasury, paid off the national debt, excited 
and stimulated the manufacturing industry, encouraged labor to put 
forth the whole strength of its sinews, felled the forests, and multi- 
plied our numbers, and augmented the national wealth, so far be- 
yond all example as to leave us a phenomenon for older nations to 
look at with wonder. And this credit, and this confidence, are 
they now no way obstructed or impeded ? Are they now acting 
with their usual efficiency, and their usual success, on the concerns 
of society ? 

The honorable member refers to the exchanges. No doubt, sir, 
the rate of foreign exchange has nothing in it alarming ; nor has it 
had, if our domestic concerns had been in a proper condition. 
But that the internal exchanges are in a healthful condition, as the 
honorable member alleges, is what I can by no means admit. I 
look upon the derangement of the internal exchanges as the precise 
form in which existing evils most manifestly exhibit themselves. 
Why, sir, look at the rates between large cities in the neighborhood 
of each other. Exchange between Boston and New York, and 
also between Philadelphia and New York, is IJ o 2 per cent. 
This could never happen but from a deranged currency ; and can 
this be called a healthful state of domestic exchange ? 

I understand that the cotton crop has done much towards equal- 
izing exchange between New Orleans and New York ; and yet I 
have seen, not many days since, that in other places of the South, 



264 

I believe Mobile, exchange on New York was at a premium of 
five to ten per cent. 

The manufacturers of the North can say how they have found, 
and how they now find, the facilities of exchange. 1 do not mean, 
exclusively, or principally, the large manufacturers of cotton and 
woollen fabrics ; but the smaller manufacturers, men who, while 
they employ many others, still bestow their own labor on their own 
capital ; the shop manufacturers, such manufacturers as abound in 
New Jersey, Connecticut, and other parts of the North. I would 
ask the gentlemen from these States how these neighbors of theirs 
find exchanges, and the means of remittance, between them and 
their correspondents and purchasers in the South. The carriage- 
makers, the furniture-makers, the hatters, the dealers in leather, in 
all its branches, the dealers in domestic hardware ; I should like 
to hear the results of the experience of all these persons, on the 
state of the internal exchanges, as well as the general question, 
whether the industry of the country has encountered any obstacle, 
in the present state of the currency. 

Mr. President, the honorable member from New York stated 
correctly, that this bill has two leading objects. 

The first is, a separation of the revenue, and the funds of the 
Government, from all connection with the concerns of individuals, 
and of corporations; and especially a separation of these funds 
from all connection with any banks. 

The second is, a gradual change in our system of currency, to 
be carried on till we can accomplish the object of an exclusive 
specie or metallic circulation, at least in all payments to Govern- 
ment, and all disbursements by Government. 

Now, sir, I am against both these propositions, ends as well as 
means. 

I am against this separation of Government and people, as im- 
natural, selfish, and an abandonment of the most important politi- 
cal duties. 

I am for having but one currency, and that a good one, both for 
the people and the Government. 

I am opposed to the doctrines of the message of September, 
and to every thing which grows out of those doctrines. I feel as 
if I were on some other sphere, as if I were not at home, as if this 
could not be America, when 1 see schemes of public policy pro- 
posed, having for their object the convenience of Government only, 
and leaving the people to shift for themselves, in a matter which 
naturally and necessarily belongs, and in every other country is 
admitted to belong, to the solemn obligations and the undoubted 
power of Government. Is it America, where the Government, 
and men in the Government, are to be better off than the people ? 
Is it America, where Government is to shut its eyes, and its ears, 



I 



265 

to public complaint, and to take care only of itself? Is it Amer- 
ica, Mr. President, is it your coyntry, and my country, in which, 
at a time of (jreat public distress, when all eyes are turned to 
Congress, and when most men feel that substantial and practical 
relief can come only from Congress, that Congress, nevertheless, has 
nothing on earth to propose, but bolts and bars, safes and vaults, 
cells and hiding-places, for the better security of its own money, 
and nothing on earth, not a beneficent law, not even a kind word, 
for the people themselves ? Is it our country, in which the interest 
of Government has reached such an ascendency over the interest 
of the people, in the estimate of the representatives of the people ? 
Has this, sir, come to be the state of things, in the old thirteen, 
with the new thirteen added to them ? For one, I confess, I know 
not what is American, in policy, in public interest, or in public 
feeling, if these measures be deemed American. ' 

The first general aspect, or feature of the bill, the character 
written broadly on its front, is this abandonment of all concern for 
the general currency of the country. This is enough for me. It 
secures my opposition to the bill in all stages. Sir, this bill ought 
to have had a preamble. It ought to have been introduced by a 
recital, setting forth that, whereas the currency of the country has 
become totally deranged ; and whereas it has heretofore been 
thought the bounden duty of this Government to take proper care 
of that great branch of the national interest ; and whereas that 
opinion is erroneous, obsolete, and heretical ; and whereas, accord- 
ing to the tme reading of the constitution, the great duty of this 
Government, and its exclusive duty, so far as currency is con- 
cerned, is to take care of itself; and whereas, if Government can 
but secure a sound currency for itself, the people may very well 
be left to such a currency as the States, or the banks, or their own 
good fortune, or bad fortune, may give them ; therefore be it 
enacted, &c. he. &.c. 

The very first provision of the bill is in keeping with its general 
objects, and general character. It abandons all the sentiments of 
civilized mankind, on the subject of credit and confidence, and 
carries us back to the dark ages. The first that we hear, is of 
safes, and vaults, and cells, and cloisters. From an intellectual, it 
goes back to a physical age. From commerce, and credit, it re- 
turns to hoarding, and hiding ; from confidence, and trust, it retreats 
to bolts, and bars, to locks with double keys, and to pains and 
penalties for touching hidden treasure. It is a law for the times 
of the feudal system ; or a law for the heads and governors of the 
piratical States of Barbary. It is a measure fit for times when 
there is no security in law, no value in commerce, no active indus- 
try among mankind. Here, it is altogether out of time, and out 
of place. It has no sympatlij' with the general sentiments of this 
VOL. III. 34 w 



266 

age, still less has it any congeniality with our American character, 
any relish of our hitherto approved and successful policy, or any 
agreement or conformity with the general feeling of the country. 

The gentleman, in stating the provisions of the first section, pro- 
ceeds to say, lliat it is strange, that none of our laws, heretofore, 
has ever attempted to give to the Treasury of the United States a 
" local hahitation." Hence it is the object of this first section of 
the bill to provide and define such local habitation. A local hab- 
itation for the Treasury of a great commercial country, in the nine- 
teenth century ! Why, sir, what is the Treasury ? The existing 
laws call it a " Department." They say, there shall be a De- 
partment, with various ofiicers, and a proper assignment of their 
duties and functions ; and that this shall be the Department of the 
Treasury. It is, thus, an organized part of Government ; an im- 
portant and indispensable branch of the general administration, 
conducting the fiscal affairs of the country, and controlling subor- 
dinate agents. 

But this bill does away with all legal and political ideas, and 
brings this important Department down to a thing of bricks and 
mortar. It enacts that certain rooms, in the new building, with 
their safes and vaults, shall constitute the Treasury of the United 
States ! And this adoption of new and strange notions, and this 
abandonment of all old ideas, is all for the purpose of accomplish- 
ing the great object of separating the afilurs of the Government 
from the affairs of the country. The nature of the means shows 
the nature of the object ; both are novel, strange, untried, and un- 
heard of. The scheme, sir, finds no precedent, either in our own 
history, or the history of any other respectable nation. It is ad- 
mitted to be new, original, experimental ; and yet its adoption is 
urged upon us as confidently as if it had come down from our 
ancestors, and had been the cherished policy of the country in all 
past times. 

I am against it, altogether. I look not to see whether the means 
be adapted to the end. That end itself is what I oppose, and I 
oppose all the means leading to it. I oppose all attempts to make 
a separate currency for the Government, because I insist upon it, 
and shall insist upon it, until I see and feel the pillars of the con- 
stitution falling around me, and upon my head, that it is the duty 
of this Government to provide a good currency for the country, 
and for the people, as well as for itself. 

I put it to gentlemen to say, whether currency be not a part of 
commerce, or an indispensable agent of commerce ; and some- 
thing, therefore, which this Government is bound to regulate, and 
to take care of? Gentlemen will not meet the argument. They 
shun the question. We demand that the just power of the con- 
stitution shall be administered. We assert that Congress has power 



267 

to regulate commerce, and currency as a part of commerce ; we 
insist that the pubhc exigency, at the present moment, calls loudly 
for the exercise of this power, — and what do they do? They 
labor to convince us that the Government itself can get on very 
well without providing a currency for the people, and they betake 
themselves, therefore, to the sub-Treasury system, its unassailable 
walls, its iron chests, and doubly-secured doors. And having satis- 
fied themselves that, in this way. Government may be kept going, 
they are satisfied. A sound currency for Government, a safe curren- 
cy for revenue ; these are the only things promised, the only things 
proposed. But these are not the old promise. The country, the 
country itself, and the whole people, were promised a better currency 
for theirown use ; a better general currency ; a better currency for all 
the purposes of trade and business. This was the promise solemnly 
given by the Government in 1833, and so often afterwards renewed, 
through all successive years, down to May last. We heard nothing, 
all that tiuie, of a separation between Government and people. No, 
sir, not a word. Both were to have an improved currency. Sir, 
I did not believe a word of all this ; I thought it all mere pretence 
or empty boasting. I had no faith in these promises, not a particle. 
But the honorable member from New York was confident ; confi- 
dent then as he is now ; confident of the success of the first scheme, 
which was plausible, as he is confident of this, which is strange, 
alien, and repulsive in its whole aspect. He was then as sure of 
being able to furnish a currency for the country, as he is now of 
furnishing a currency for Government. He told us, at that time, 
that he believed the system adopted by the late administration was 
fully competent to its object. He felt no alarm for the result. He 
believed all the President had done, from the removal of the de- 
posits downwards, was constitutional and legal ; and he was de- 
termined to place himself by the side of the President, and desired 
only to stand or fall in the estimation of his constituents, as they 
should determine in the result ; and th<1t result has now come. 

As I have said, sir, I had no faith at all in all the promises of 
the administration, made before and at that time, and constant- 
ly repeated. I felt no confidence whatever in the whole project ; 
I deemed it rash, headstrong, and presumptuous, to the last degree. 
And at the risk of the charge of some offence against good taste, 
I will read a paragraph from some remarks of mine, in February, 
1834, which sufficiently shows what my opinion and my appre- 
hensions then were. 

"I have already endeavored to warn the country against irre- 
deemable paper; against bank paper, when banks do not pay 
specie for their own notes ; against that miserable, abominable, and 
fraudulent policy, which attempts to give value to any paper of 
any bank, one single moment longer than such paper is redeemable 



268 

on demand in gold and silver. And I wish, most solemnly and 
earnestly, to repeat that warning. I sec clanger of that state of 
things ahead. I see imminent danger that more or fewer 
OF the State banks will stop specie payment. The late 
measure of the Secretary, and the infatuation with which it seems 
to be supported, tend directly and strongly to that result. Under 
pretence, then, of a design to return to a currency which shall be 
all specie, we are likely to have a currency in which there shall be 
no specie at all. We are in danger of being overwhelmed with 
irredeemable paper — mere paper, representing not gold nor silver ; 
no, sir, represcntino; nothing but broken promises, bad faith, 
BANKRUPT CORPORATIONS, CHEATED CREDIT- 
ORS, AND A RUINED PEOPLE!" 

And now, sir, we see the upshot of the Experiment. We see 
around us bankrupt corporations, and broken promises ; but we see 
no promises more really and emphatically broken, than all those 
promises of the administration, which gave us assurance of a better 
currency. These promises, now broken, notoriously and openly 
broken,'if they cannot be performed, ought at least to be acknowl- 
edged. The Government ought not, in common fairness and com- 
mon honesty, to deny its own responsibility, seek to escape from 
the demands of the people, and to hide itself out of the way, and 
beyond the reach of the process of public opinion, by retreating 
into this sub-Treasury system. Let it at least come forth ; let it 
Dear a port of honesty and candor ; let it confess its promises, if it 
cannot perform them; and, above all, now, even now, at this late 
hour, let it renounce schemes and projects, the inventions of pre- 
sumption, and the resorts of desperation, and let it address itself, 
in all good faith, to the great work of restoring the currency by 
approved and constitutional means. 

But, sir, so far is any such course from all probability of being 
adopted, so little ground of hope is there that this sub-Treasury 
system will be abandoned, that the honorable member from New 
York has contended and argued in his place, that the public opin- 
ion is more favorable to this measure now proposed, than to any 
other which has been suggested. He claims for it the character 
of a favorite with the people. He makes out this sub-Treasury 
plan to be quite high in popular estimation. Certainly, sir, if the 
honorable member thinks so, he and I see with different eyes, hear 
with different ears, or gather the means of opinion from very differ- 
ent sources. But what is the gentleman's argument ? It is this. 
The two Houses of Congress, he says, reflect the wishes and 
opinions of the people ; and with the two Houses of Congress, 
this system, he supposes, is more acceptable than any other. 

Now, sir, with the utmost respect for the two Houses of Con- 
gress, and all their members, I must be permitted to express a 



269 

doubt, and indeed a good deal more than a doubt, whether, on this 
subject, and at the present moment, the two Houses do exactly 
reflect the opinions and wishes of the people. I should not have 
adverted to the state of opinion here, compared with the state of 
public opinion in the country, if the gentleman had not founded 
an argument, on the supposed disposition of the two Houses, and 
on the fact, that they truly set forth the public opinion. But since 
lie has brought forward such an argument, it is proper to examine 
its foundation. 

In a general sense, undoubtedly, sir, the members of the two 
Houses must be understood to represent the sentiments of their 
constituents, the people of the United States. Their acts bind 
them, as their representatives, and they must be considered, in legal 
understanding, as conforming to the w ill of their constituents. But, 
owing to the manner of our organization, and to the periods and 
times of election, it certainly may happen, that at a particular mo- 
ment, and on a particular subject, opinion out doors may be one 
way, while opinion here is another. And how is it now, if we 
may judge by the usual indications ? Does the gentleman hope 
for no vote, in this body, for his bill, but such as shall be, in his 
opinion, in strict accordance with the wishes, as generally under- 
stood, and most recently expressed, in the State from which that 
vote shall come? 

I shall be exceedingly sorry, sir, for instance, to see a vote from 
Maine given for this bill. I hope I may not. But if there should 
be such a vote, can the gentleman say that he believes, in his con- 
science, it will express the wishes of a majority of the people of 
that State? And so of New Jersey, and one, if not more States 
in the West. I am quite sure that gendemen who may give their 
votes, will discharge their duty, according to their own enlightened 
judgments, and they are no way accountable to me for the manner 
in which they discharge it ; but when the honorable member from 
New York contends that this body now accurately represents the 
public opinion, on the sub-Treasury system, we must look at the 
facts. And with all possible respect for the honorable member, I 
must even take leave to ask him, whether, in his judgment, he him- 
self is truly reflecting the opinions and wishes of a majority of the 
people of New York, while he is proposing and supporting this 
bill ? Where does he find evidence of the favor of the people of 
that State towards this measure ? Does he find it in the city ? 
In the country ? In the recendy elected House of Assembly ? In 
the recently elected members of the Senate ? Can he name a 
place — can he lay a venue, for the popularity of diis measure, in 
the whole State of New York ? Between Montauk point and 
Cattaraugus, and between the mountains of Pennsylvania and the 
north end of lake Champlain, can he any where put his finger on 

w * 



270 

the map and say, Here is a spot where the sub-Treasury is popular ? 
He may find places, no doubt, though they are somewhat scarce, 
where his friends have been able to maintain their ascendency, 
notwithstanding the unpopularity of the measure ; but can he find 
one place, one spot of any extent, in which this measure of relief 
is the choice, the favorite, of a majority of the people ? 

Mr. President, the honorable member has long been in public life, 
and has witnessed, often, the changes and fluctuations of political 
parties and political opinions. And I will ask him what he thinks 
of the hurricane which swept over New York in tlie first week of last 
November. Did he ever know the like ? Has he before ever been 
called on to withstand such a whirlwind ? Or had he previously any 
suspicion that such an outbreak in the political elements was at hand? 
I am persuaded, sir, that he feared such a thing much less than I 
hoped for it ; and my own hopes, although I had hopes, and strong 
hopes, I must confess, fell far short of the actual result. And to 
me, Mr. President, it seems perfectly plain, that the cause of this 
astonishing change in public opinion is to be found, mainly, in the 
message of September, and the sub-Treasury bill of the last ses- 
sion. The message, with its anti-social, anti-commercial, anti- 
popular doctrines and dogmas — the message which set at naught 
all our own manners and usages, rejected all the teachings of ex- 
perience, threatened the State institutions, and, anxious only to take 
good care of Government, abandoned the people to their fate — 
the message — the message, it was, that did the great work in New 
York, and elsewhere. 

The message was that cave of Eolus, out of which the career- 
ing winds issued : 

" Una Eurusque Notusque ruunt, creberque procellis 
Africus ' 

mingling seas and skies, dispersing the most powerful polit- 



ical combinations, and scattering their fragments on the rocks and 
shores. 1 might quote the poet further, sir, 

" et vastos volvunt ad littora fluctus." 

The political deep seemed agitated, to the very bottom, and its 
heaving bosom moved onward and forward the " vastos fliwtiis,'" in 
nautical phrase, the big rollers of public opinion. 

The honorable member may say, or may think, that all this was 
but the result of a transient impulse, a feverish ebullition, a sudden 
surprise, or a change superficial, and apparent only, not deep and 
real. Sir, I cannot say, but I must confess that if the movement 
in New York, last fall, was not real, it looked more like reality, 
than any fanciful exhibition which I ever saw. If the people were 
not in earnest, they certainly had a very sober and earnest way of 
being in jest. 



271 

And now, sir, can the honorable member, can any man, say, that 
in regard to this measure, even the House of Representatives is 
certain, at this moment, truly to reflect the public judgment ? 
Though nearer to the people than ourselves, and more frequently 
chosen, yet it is known that the present members were elected, 
nearly all of them, before the appearance of the message of Sep- 
tember. And will the honorable member allow me to ask, whether, 
if a new election of members of Congress were to take place in 
his own State, to-morro",v, and the newly elected members should 
take their seats immediately, he should entertain tlie slightest ex- 
pectation of the passage of tliis bill through that House ? 

JMr. President, in 1834, the honorable member presented to the 
Senate, resolutions of the Legislature of New York, approving the 
previous course of the administration in relation to the currency. 
He then urged strongly, but none too strongly, the weight due to 
those resolutions, because, he argued, they expressed the undoubted 
sense of the people, as well as that of the Legislature. He said 
there was not, at that time, a single member in the popular branch 
of the Legislature, who was not in favor of those resolutions, either 
from the cities of Hudson, Albany, Troy, Schenectady, Utica, or 
an almost endless number of incorporated trading towns and vil- 
lages, or the great city of New York itself, which he justly calls the 
commercial emporium of the country ; all these cities and villages 
being surrounded, as he most justly said, by an intelligent popula- 
tion ; and cities, villages, and country, altogether comprising near 
two millions of souls. All this was very well. It was true. The 
facts were with the honorable member. And althoush I most ex- 
ceedingly regretted and deplored that it was so, I could not deny 
it. And he was entitled to enjoy, and did enjoy, the whole benefit 
of this respectable support. But, sir, how stands the matter now ? 
What say these two millions of souls to the sub-Treasury? In 
the first ]ilace, what says the city of New York, tliat great com- 
mercial emporium, worthy the gentleman's commendation in 1834, 
and worthy of his commendation, and my commendation, and all 
commendation, at all times ? What sentiments, what opinions, 
what feelings, are proclaimed by the thousands of her merchants, 
traders, manufacturers, and laborers? What is the united shout 
of all the voices of all her classes ? What is it, but that you will 
put down this new-fangled sub-Treasury system, alike alien to their 
interests and their feelings, at once, and forever ? What is it, but 
that in mercy to the mercantile interest, the trading interest, the 
shipping interest, the manufacturing interest, the laboring class, and 
all classes, you will give up useless and pernicious political schemes 
and projects, and return to the plain, straight course of wise and 
wholesome legislation ? The sentiments of the city cannot be 
misunderstood. A thousand pens, and ten thousand tongues, and 



272 

a spirited press, make them all known. If we have not already 
yet heard enough, we shall hear more. Embarrassed, vexed, 
pressed, and distressed, as are her citizens at this moment, yet their 
resolution is not shaken, their spirit is not broken ; and, depend 
upon it, they will not see their commerce, their business, their pros- 
perity, and their happiness, all sacrificed to preposterous schemes 
and political empiricism, without another, and a yet more vigorous, 
struggle. And Hudson, and Albany, and Troy, and Schenectady, 
and Utica — pi'ay, sir, why may not the citizens of these cities 
have as much weight with the honorable member now, as they just- 
ly had in 1834? And does he, can he, doubt of what they think 
of his bill ? Ay, sir, and Rochester, and Batavla, and Buffalo, and 
the entire western district of the State, does the honorable member 
suppose that, in the whole of it, he would be able, by careful search, 
to do more than to find, now and then, so rare a bird, as a single 
approver of this system ? 

Mr. President, if this system must com^e, let it come. If we 
must bow to it, why, then, put it upon us. Do it. Do it by the 
power of Congress and the President. Congress and the Presi- 
dent have the power. But spare us, I beseech you, spare the 
people from the imputation, that it is done under clear proof and 
evidence of their own approbation. Let it not be said it is their 
choice. Save them, in all mercy, from that reproach. 

Sir, I think there is a revolution in public opinion now going on, 
whatever may be the opinion of the member from New York, or 
others. I think the fall elections prove this, and that other more 
recent events confirm it. I think it is a revolt against the absolute 
dictation of party, a revolt against coercion, on the public judg- 
ment ; and especially a revolt against the adoption of new mis- 
chievous expedients, on questions of deep public interest ; a revolt 
against the rash and unbridled spirit of change ; a revolution, in 
short, against further revolution. I hope, most sincerely, that this 
revolution may go on ; not, sir, for the sake of men, but for the 
sake of measures, and for the sake of the country. I wish it to 
proceed till the whole country, with an imperative unity of voice, 
shall call back Congress to the true policy of the Government. 

The honorable member from New York is of opinion, sir, that 
there are only three courses open to us. We must, he urges, either 
adopt this measure, or return to a system of deposits with the 
State banks, or establish a national bank. Now, sir, suppose this 
to be as the gentleman states, then, I say, that either of the others 
is better than this. 1 would prefer doing almost any thing, and I 
would vastly prefer doing nothing, to taking this bill. 

I need not conceal my own opinions. I am in favor of a na- 
tional institution, with such provisions and securities as Congress 
may think proper, to guard against danger and against abuse. But 



213 

the honorable member disposes of this, at once, by the declaration, 
that he himself can never consent to a bank, being utterly opposed 
to it, both on constitutional grounds and grounds of expediency. 
The gentleman's opinion, sir, always respected, is certainly of great 
weight and importance, from the public situation he occupies. 
But although these are his opinions, is it certain that a majority of 
the people of the country agree with him in this particular ? I 
think not. I verily believe a majority of the people of the United 
States are now of the opinion, that a national bank, properly con- 
stituted, limited, and guarded, is both constitutional and expedient, 
and ought now to be established. So far as I can learn, three 
fourths of the Western people are for it. Their representatives 
here can form a better judgment; but such is my opinion, upon 
the best information which I can obtain. The South may be more 
divided, or may be against a national institution ; but looking, again, 
to the centre, the North and the East, and comprehending the 
whole in one view, I believe the prevalent sentiment is such as I 
have stated. 

At the last session, great pains were taken to obtain a vote, of 
this and the other House, against a bank ; for the obvious purpose 
of placing such an institution out of the list of remedies, and so 
reconciling the people to the sub-Treasury scheme. Well, sir, and 
did those votes produce any effect ? None at all. The people 
did not, and do not, care a rush for them. I never have seen or 
heard a single man, who paid the slightest respect to those votes 
of ours. The honorable member, to-day, opposed as he is to a 
bank, has not even alluded to them. So entirely vain is it, sir, in 
this country, to attempt to forestall, commit, or coerce the public 
judgment. All those resolutions fell perfectly dead on the tables 
of the two Houses. We may resolve what we please, and resolve 
it when we please ; but if the people do not like it, at their own 
good pleasure they will rescind it ; and they are not likely to con- 
tinue their approbation long to any system of measures, however 
plausible, which terminates in deep disappointment of all their 
hopes for their own prosperity. 

I have said, sir, that, in preference to this bill, I would try some 
modification of the State bank system ; and I will cheerfully do so, 
although every body knows, that I always opposed that system. 
Still I think it less objectionable than this. Mr. President, in my 
opinion, the real source of the evil lies in the tone, and spirit, and 
general feeling, which have pervaded the administration for some 
years past. 1 verily believe the origin is there. That spirit, I 
fully believe, has been deeply anti-commercial, and of late decidedly 
unfriendly to the State institutions. Do the leading presses in 
favor of the administration speak its own sentiments? If you 
think they do, then look at the language and. spirit of those presses. 
VOL. III. 35 



274 

Do they not manifest an unceasing and bitter hostility to the mer- 
cantile classes, and to the institutions of the States ? I certainly 
never supposed the State banks fit agents for furnishing or regula- 
ting a national currency ; but I have thought them useful in their 
proper places. At any rate, the States had power to establish 
them, and have established them, and we have no right to endeavor 
to destroy them. How is it, then, that generally, every leading 
press, which supports the administration, joins in the general cry 
against these institutions of the States ? How is it, if it be not that 
a spirit hostile to these institutions has come to pervade the admm- 
istration itself? 

In my opinion, the State banks, on every ground, demand other 
treatment ; and the interest of the country requires that they should 
receive other treatment. The Government has used them, and 
why should it now not only desert, but abuse them ? That some 
of the selected banks have behaved very unworthily, is no doubt 
true. The best behavior is not always to be expected from pets. 
But that the banks, generally, deserved this unrestrained warfare 
upon them, at the hands of Government, I cannot believe. It ap- 
pears to me to be both ungrateful and unjust. 

The banks, sir, are now making an eflbrt, which I hope may be 
successful, to resume specie payments. The process of resumption 
works, and must work, with severity upon the country. Yet 
I most earnestly hope the banks may be able to accomplish the 
object. But in all this effort, they get no aid from Government, 
no succor from Government, not even a kind word from Govern- 
ment. They get nothing but denunciation and abuse. They work 
alone, and therefore the attainment of the end is the more difficult. 
They hope to reach that end only, or mainly, by reduction and 
curtailment. If, by these means, payment in specie can be re- 
sumed and maintained, the result will prove the existence of great 
solidity, both of the banks and of the mercantile classes. The 
Bank of England did not accomplish resumption by curtailment 
alone. She had the direct aid of Government. And the banks 
of the United States, in 1816, did not rely on curtailment alone. 
They had the aid of the then new-created Bank of the United 
States, and all the countenance, assistance, and friendly support, 
which the Government could give them. Still, I would not dis- 
courage the efforts of the banks. I trust they will succeed, and that 
they will resume specie payments at the earliest practicable mo- 
ment ; but it is, at the same time, my full conviction, that by another 
and a better course of public policy, the Government might most 
materially assist the banks to bring about resumption ; and that by 
Government aid, it might be brought about with infinitely less of 
public inconvenience and individual distress. 

For an easy resumption of specie payments, there is mainly 



275 

wanted a revival of trust, the restoration of confidence, and a har- 
monious action, between the Government and the moneyed insti- 
tutions of tlie country. But instead of efibrts to inspire trust, and 
create confidence, we see and hear notliing but denunciation ; in- 
stead of hannonious action, we find nothiuir but unrelenting hos- 
tility. 

Mr. President, you and I were in Congress, in 1816, during the 
time of the suspension of specie payments by the banks. What 
was the spirit of the Government at that time, sir? Was it hostile, 
acrimonious, belligerent towards the State institutions ? Did it 
look on them only to frown ? Did it touch them only to distress? 
Did It put tliem all under the scourge ? You know, sir, it was far 
otherwise. You know, that the Secretary of that day entered into 
friendly correspondence with them, and assured them that he would 
second their elforts for re5umj)tIon, by all the means in his power. 
You know, sir, that in fact, he did render most essential aid. And 
do you see, sir, any similar effort now ? Do you behold, In the 
bill before us, any thing of the spirit or the policy of Mr. Madison, 
on an occasion very like the present ? I\Ir. Madison was a man 
of such subdued self-respect, that he was willing to yield to expe- 
rience and to the opinion of his country ; a man, too, of so much 
wisdom and true patriotism, that nothing was allowed to stand be- 
tween him and his clear perception of the public good. Do you 
see, sir, any thing of this spirit — of the wisdom, of the mild, and 
healing, and restoring policy, of Mr. Madison, in this measure ? 
Another illustrious man, now numbered with the dead, was then 
A\ ith us, and was acting an important part, in the councils of the 
country. I mean Mv. Lowndes ; a man not deficient in force and 
genius, but still more distinguished for that large and comprehen- 
sive view of things which is more necessary to make great men, 
and is also much rarer than mere positive talent — and for an im- 
partial, well-balanced judgment, which kept him free from preju- 
dice and error, and which gave great and just influence to all his 
opinions. Do you see, sir, any thing of the spirit, the temper, the 
cool judgment, or the long-sighted policy of Mr. Lowndes, in all 
that is now before us ? And Mr. Crawford, then at the head of 
the Treasury, arduously striving to restore the finances, to rees- 
tablish both public and private credit, and to place the currency 
once more upon its safe and proper foundation ; do you see, sir, 
the marks of Mr. Crawford's Imnds in the measure now presented 
for our apjirobation ? 

Mr. President, I have little to say of the subordinate provisions 
of this bill, of the receivers-general, or of the dangerous power, 
given to the Secretary, of investing the public money in State 
stocks of his own selection. My opposition to the bill, is to the 
whole of it. It is general, uncompromising, and decided. I op- 



276 

pose all its ends, objects, and purposes ; I oppose all its means, its 
inventions, and its contrivances. I am opposed to the separation 
of Government and people ; I am opposed, now and at all times, 
to an exclusive metallic currency ; 1 am opposed to the spirit in 
which the measure originates, and to all and every emanation and 
ebullition of that spirit. I solemnly declare, that in thus studying 
our own safety, and renouncing all care over the general currency, 
we are, in my opinion, abandoning one of the plainest and most 
important of our constitutional duties. If, sir, we were, at this 
moment, at war with a powerful enemy, and if his fleets and ar- 
mies were now ravaging our shores, and it were proposed in Con- 
gress to take care of ourselves, to defend the Capitol, and abandon 
the country to its fate, it would be, certainly, a more striking, a 
more flagrant and daring, but in my judgment not a more clear and 
manifest dereliction of duty, than we commit in this open and pro- 
fessed abandonment of our constitutional power and constitutional 
duty, over the great interest of the national cun-ency. 1 mean to 
maintain that constitutional power, and that constitutional duty, to 
the last. It shall not be with my consent, that our ancient policy 
shall be overturned. It shall not be with my consent, that the 
country shall be plunged, farther and farther, into the un fathomed 
depths of new expedients. It shall not be without a voice of re- 
monstrance from me, that one great and important purpose for 
which this Government was framed, shall now be utterly surren- 
dered and abandoned forever 



SECOND SPEECH 



ON THE SUB-TREASURY BILL, DELIVERED IN THE SENATE OF 
THE UNITED STATES, MARCH 12, 1838. 



Mr, President : Having at an early stage of the debate ex- 
pressed, in a general manner, my opposition to this bill, I must 
find an apology for again addressing the Senate, in the acknowl- 
edged importance of the measure, the novelty of its character, 
and the division of opinion respecting it which is known to exist 
in both Houses of Congress. 

To be able, in this state of things, to give a preponderance to 
that side of the question which I embrace, is, perhaps, more than I 
ought to hope ; but I do not feel that I have done all which my 
dutv demands, until I make another effort. 

The functions of this Government, which, in time of peace, most 
materially affect the happiness of the people, are those which respect 
commerce and revenue. The bill before us touches both these 
great interests. It proposes to act directly on the revenue and 
expenditure of Government, and it is expected to act, also, indi- 
lectly, on commerce and currency ; while its friends and supporters 
relying solely on this, altogether abstain from other measures, deemed 
by a great portion of Congress, and of the country, to be indispen- 
sably demanded by the present exigency. 

We have arrived, Mr. President, towards the close of a half cen- 
tury from the adoption of the constitution. During the progress 
of these years, our population has increased from three or four mil- 
lions to thirteen or fourteen millions ; our commerce, from little or 
nothing, to an export of a hundred and ninety millions, and an 
import of a hundred and twenty-eight and a half millions, in the 
year 1836. Our mercantile tonnage approaches near to two mil- 
lions. We have a revenue, and an expenditure, of thirty millions 
a year. The manufactures of the country have attained very 
great importance, and, up to the commencement of the derange- 
ment of the currency, were in a prosperous and growing state. 

277 X 



278 

The produce of the fisheries has become vast ; and the general 
production of labor and capital is increasing, far beyond all exam- 
ple in other countries or other times, and has already reached an 
amount which, to those who have not investigated the subject, 
would seem incredible. 

The commerce of the United States, sir, is spread over the globe. 
It pursues its object in all seas, and finds its way into every port 
which the laws of trade do not shut against its approach. With all 
the disadvantages of more costly materials, and of higher wages, 
and often in despite of unequal and unfavorable commercial regula- 
tions of other States, the enterprise, vigor, and economy which dis- 
tinguish our navigating interest, enable it to show our flag, in 
competition with the most favored and the most skilful, in the various 
quarters of the world. In the mean time, internal acti\ity does 
not las nor loiter. New and useful modes of intercourse and facili- 
ties of transportation are established, or are m progress, every 
where. Public works are projected and pushed forward, in a spirit 
which grasps at high and vast objects, with a bold defiance of all 
expense. The aggregate value of the property of the country is 
augmented daily. A constant demand for new capital exists, al- 
though a debt has already been contracted in Europe, for sums 
advanced to States, corporations, and individuals, for purposes con- 
nected with internal improvement ; which debt cannot now be less 
than a hundred millions of dollars. Spreading over a great extent, 
embracing different climates, and with vast variety of products, we 
find an intensely excited spirit of industry and enterprise to pervade 
the whole country ; while its external commerce, as I have already 
said, sweeps over all seas. We are connected with all commercial 
countries, and, most of all, with that which has established and sus- 
tained the most stupendous system of commerce and manufactures, 
and which collects and disburses an incredible amount of annual 
revenue ; and which uses, to this end, and as means of currency 
and circulation, a mixed money of metal and paper. 

Such a mixed system, sir, has also prevailed with us, from the 
beginning. Gold and silver, and convertible bank paper, have 
always constituted our actual money. The people are used to this 
system. It has hitherto commanded their confidence, and fulfilled 
their expectations. We have had, in succession, two national 
banks ; each for a period of twenty years. Local or State banks 
have, at the same time, been in operation ; and no man of intelli- 
gence or candor can deny that, during these forty years, and with 
the operation of a national and these State institutions, the currency 
of the country, upon the whole, has been safe, cheap, convenient, 
and satisfactoiy. When the Government was established, it found 
convertible bank paper, issued by State banks, already in circulation ; 



279 

and with this circulation it did not interfere. The United States, 
indeed, had themselves established a bank, under the old Confed- 
eration, with authority to issue paper. A system of mixed circula- 
tion, therefore, was exactly that system which this constitution, at 
its adoption, found already in existence. There is not the slightest 
evidence of any intention, in establishing the constitution, to over- 
throw or abolish this system, although it certainly was the object of 
the constitution to abohsh bills of credit, and all paper intended for 
circulation, issued upon the faith of the States alone. Inasmuch as 
whatever then existed, of the nature of money or currency, rested 
on State legislation, and as it was not possible that uniformity, 
general credit, and general confidence. could result from local and 
separate acts of the States, there is evidence — I think abundant 
evidence — that it was the intention of the framers of the constitution 
to give to Congress a controlling pov.'er over the whole subject, to 
the end that there shoidd be, for the w hole country, a currency of 
uniform value. Congress has heretofore exercised this authority, 
and fulfilled the corresponding duties. It has maintained, for forty 
years out of forty-nine, a national institution, proceeding from its 
power, and responsible to the General Government. With inter- 
vals of derangement, brought about by war and other occurrences, 
this whole system, taken altogether, has been greatly successful in 
its actual operation. We have found occasion to create no differ- 
ence between Government and people — between money for reve- 
nue, and money for the general use of the country. Until the 
commencement of the last session. Government had manifested no 
disposition to look out for itself exclusively. What was good 
enough for the people, was good enough for Government. No 
condescending and gracious preference had, before that period, ever 
been tendered to members of Congress, over other persons having 
claims upon the public funds. Such a singular spectacle had never 
been exhibited, as an amicable, disinterested, and patriotic under- 
standing, between those who are to vote taxes on the people, for 
the purpose of replenishing the Treasury, and those who, from the 
Treasury, dispense the money back again among those who have 
claims on it. In that respect I think tlie Secretary stands alone. 
He is the first, so far as I know, in our long list of able heads of 
Departments, who has thought it a delicate and skilful touch, in 
financial administration, to be particularly kind and complaisant to 
the interest of the law-makers — those who hold the tax-laying 
power ; the first,w hose great deference and cordial regard for mem- 
bers of Congress have led him to provide for them, as the medium 
oi' payment and receipt, something more valuable than is provided, 
at the same time, for the army, the navy', the judges, the revolu- 
tionary pensioners, and the various classes of laborers in the pay ot 
Government. 



280 

Through our ^vhc)le history, sir, we have found a convertible 
paper currency, under proper control, highly useful, by its pliability 
to circumstances, and by its capacity of enlargement, in a reasona- 
ble degree, to meet the demands of a new and enterprising com- 
munity. As 1 have already said, sir, we owe a permanent debt of 
a hundred millions abroad ; and in the present abundance of money 
in England, and the state of demand here, this amount will probably 
be increased. But it must be evident to eveiy one, that so long- 
as, by a safe use of paper, we give some reasonable expansion to 
our own circulation, or at least do not unreasonably contract it, we 
do, to that extent, create or maintain an ability for loans among 
ourselves, and so far diminish the amount of annual interest paid 
abroad. 

But let me now, Mr. President, ask the attendon of the Senate 
to another subject, upon which, indeed, much has already been 
said : I mean that which is usually called the credit system. 

Sir, what is that system ? Why is credit a word of so much 
solid importance, and of so powerful charm, in the United States? 
Why is it that a shock has been felt through all classes and all in- 
terests, the fii-st moment that this credit has been disturbed ? Does 
its importance belong, equally, to all commercial States ? Or are 
there peculiarities in our condition, our habits, and modes of busi- 
ness, which make credit more indispensable, and mingle it more 
naturally, more intimately, with the life-blood of our system ? 

A full and philosophical answer to these inquiries, Mr. President, 
would demand that 1 should set forth both the ground-w ork and 
the structure of our social system. It would show that the wealth 
and prosperity of the country have as broad a foundation as its 
popular constitutions. Undoubtedly there are peculiarities in that 
system, resulting from the nature of our political institutions, from 
our elementary laws, and from the general character of the people. 
These peculiarities most unquesdonably give to credit, or to those 
means and those arrangements, by whatever names we call them, 
which are calculated to keep the whole, or by far the greater part, 
of the capital of the country in a state of constant activity, a de- 
gree of importance far exceeding what is experienced elsew here. 

In the old countries of Europe there is a clear and well-defined 
line between capital and labor ; a line which strikes through society 
with a horizontal sweep, leaving on one side wealth, in masses, 
holden by few hands, and those having litde participation in the 
laborious pursuits of life ; on the other, the thronging multitudes of 
labor, with here and there, only, an instance of such accumulation 
of earnings as to deserve the name of capital. This distinction, 
indeed, is not universal and absolute in any of the commercial 
States of Europe, and it grows less and less definite as commerce 
advances ; the effect of commerce and manufactures, as all history 



281 

shows, being, every where, to diffuse wealth, and not to aid its 
accumulation in few hands. But still the liiie is greatly more 
broad, marked, and visible in European nations, than in the United 
States. In those nations the gains of capital, and wages, or the 
earnings of labor, are not only distinct in idea, as elements of the 
science of political economy, but, to a great degree, also, distinct 
in fact ; and their respective claims, and merits, and modes of 
relative adjustment, become subjects of discussion and of public 
regulation. Now, sir, every body may see that that is a state of 
thin o;s which, does not exist with us. We have no such visible 
and broad distinction between capital and labor; and much of the 
general happiness of all classes results from this. With us, labor is 
every day augmenting its means by its own industry ; not in all cases, 
indeed, but in very many. Its savings of yesterday become its capi- 
tal, therefore, of to-day. On the other hand, vastly the greater portion 
of the property of the country exists in such small quantities that its 
holders cannot dispense altogether \\ ith their own personal industry ; 
or if, in some instances, capital be accumulated till it rises to what 
may be called afiluence, it is usually disintegrated and broken into 
particles again, in one or two generations. The abolition of the 
rights of primogeniture ; the descent of property of every sort to 
females as well as males ; the cheap and easy means by which prop- 
erty is transferred and conveyed ; the high price of labor ; the low 
price of land ; the genius of our political institutions ; in fine, every 
thing belonging to us, counteracts large accumulation. This is our 
actual system. Our politics, our constitutions, our elementary laws, 
our habits, all centre in this point, or tend to this result. From 
where I now stand, to the extremity of the northeast, vastly the 
greatest part of the property of the country is in the hands and 
ownership of those whose personal industry is employed in some 
form of productive labor. General competence, general education, 
enterprise, activity, and industry, such as never before pervaded 
any society, are the characteristics which distinguish the people 
who live, and move, and act in this state of things, such as I have 
described it. 

Now, sir, if this view be true, as I think it is, all must perceive 
that, in the United States, capital cannot say to labor and industry, 
" Stand ye yonder, while I come up hither ; " but labor and indus- 
try lay hold on capital, break it into parcels, use it, diffuse it widely, 
and, instead of leaving it to repose in its own inertness, compel it to 
act at once as their own stimulus and their own instiiiment. 

But, sir, this is not all. There is another view still more imme- 
diately affecting the operation and use of credit. In every wealthy 
community, however equally property may be divided, there will 
always be some property-holders who live on its income. If this 
property be land, they live on rent ; if it be money, they live on its 
VOL, III. 36 X* 



28^ 

interest. Tlie amount of real estate held in this country on lease, Is 
comparatively very small, except in the cities. But there are indi- 
viduals and families, trustees and guardians, and various literary and 
charitable institutions, who have occasion to invest funds for the pur- 
pose of annual moneyed income. Where do they invest ? where can 
they invest ? The answer to these questions shows at once a mighty 
difference between the state of things here, and that in England. 
Here, these investments, to produce a moneyed income, are made in 
banks, insurance companies, canal and railroad corporations, and 
other similar institutions. Placed thus immediately in active hands, 
this capital, it is evident, becomes at once the basis of business ; it 
gives occupation, pays labor, excites enterprise, and perfomis, in 
short, all the functions of employed money. But, in England, in- 
vestments for such purposes usually take another direction. There is, 
in England, a vast amount of public stocks, as eight or nine hundred 
millions sterling of public debt actually exists, constituting, to the 
amount of its annual interest, a charge on the active capital and 
industry of the country. In the hands of individuals, portions of this 
debt are capital ; that is, they produce income to the proprietors, and 
income without labor; while, in a national point of view, it is mere 
debt. What was obtained for it, or that on account of which it was 
contracted, has been spent in the long and arduous wars, which the 
country has sustained, from the time of King William the Third, to 
our own days. There are thousands of individuals, therefore, whose 
fixed income arises, not from the active use of property, either in 
their own hands, or the hands of others, but from the interest on 
that part of this national charge to which they are entided. If, 
therefore, we use the term capital not in the sense of political 
economy exactly, but as implying whatever returns income to indi- 
viduals, we find an almost incalculable mass so circumstanced as 
not to be the basis of active operations. 

To illustrate this idea further, sir, let us suppose that, by some oc- 
currence, (such as is certainly never to be expected,) this debt should 
be paid off; suppose its holders were to receive, to-morrow, their 
full amounts ; what would they do with them ? Why, sir, if they 
were obliged to loan the one-quaiter part into the hands of the indus- 
trious classes, for the purposes of employment in active business ; and 
if this operation could be accompanied by the same intelligence and 
industry among the people which prevail with us, the result would 
do more toward raisins: the character of the laboring classes, than 
all reforms in Parliament, and other general political operations. It 
would be as if this debt had never been contracted ; as if the money 
had never been spent, and now remained part of the active capital 
of the country, widely diffused and employed in the business of hfe. 
But this debt, sir, has created an enormous amount of private prop- 
erty, upon the income of which its owners live, which does not 



283 

require their own active labor or that of others. We have no such 
debt; we have no such mode of investment; and this circumstance 
gives quite a different aspect and a different reahtytoour condition. 

Now, IMr. President, what I understand by the credit system is, 
that w hich thus connects labor and capital, by giving to labor the use 
of capital. In other words, intehigence, good character, and good 
morals bestow on those who have not capital, a power, a trust, a 
confidence, which enables them to obtain it, and to employ it usefully 
for themselves and others. These active men of business build their 
hopes of success on their attentiveness, their economy, and their 
integrity. A wider theatre for useful activity is under their feet, and 
around them, than was ever spread before the eyes of the young and 
enterprising generations of men, on any other spot enlightened by the 
sun. Before them is the ocean. Every thing in that direction in- 
vates them to efforts of enterprise and industry in the pursuits of com- 
merce and the fisheries. Around them, on all hands, are thriving 
and prosperous manufactures, an improving agriculture, and the 
daily presentation of new objects of internal improvement ; while 
behind them is almost half a continent of the richest land, at the 
cheapest prices, under healthful climates, and washed by the most 
magnificent rivers that on any part of the globe pay their homage 
to the sea. In the midst of all these glowing and glorious prospects, 
they are neither restrained by ignorance, nor smitten down by the 
penury of personal circumstances. They are not compelled to con- 
template, in hopelessness and despair, all the advantages thus be- 
stowed on their condition by Providence. Capital though they may 
have little or none, credit supplies its place ; not as the refuge of the 
prodigal and the reckless ; not as gratifying present wants with the 
certainty of future absolute ruin ; but as the genius of honorable 
trust and confidence ; as the blessing, voluntarily offered to good 
character and to good conduct ; as the beneficent agent, wliich as- 
sists honesty and enterprise in obtaining comfort and independence. 

Mr. President, take away this credit, and what remains? I do not 
ask what remains to the few, but to the many ? Take away this sys- 
tem of credit, and then tell me what is left for labor and industry, 
but mere manual toil and daily drudgery? If we adopt a system that 
withdraws capital from active employment, do we not diminish the 
rate of wages? If we curtail the general business of society, does 
not every laboring man find his condition grow daily worse ? In 
the politics of the day, sir, we hear much said about divorces ; and 
when we abolish credit, we shall divorce labor from capital ; and, 
depend on it, sir, when we divorce labor from capital, capital is 
hoarded, and labor starves. 

The declaration so often quoted, that " all who trade on bor- 
rowed capital ought to break," is the most aristocratic sentiment 
ever uttered in this country. It is a sentiment wliich, if carried out 



284 

by political arrangement, would condemn the great majority of 
mankind to the perpetual condition of mere day-laborers. It tends 
to take away from them all that solace and hope which arises from 
possessing something which they can call their own. A man loves 
his own ; it is fit and natural that he should do so ; and he will love 
his country and its institutions, if he have some stake in that coun- 
try, although it be but a very small part of the general mass of 
property. If it be but a cottage, an acre, a garden, its possession 
raises him, gives him self-respect, and strengthens his attachment to 
his native land. It is our happy condition, by the blessings of 
Providence, that almost every man of sound health, industrious 
habits, and good morals, can ordinarily attain, at least, to this degree 
of comfort and respectability ; and it is a result devoutly to be 
wished, both for its individual and its general consequences. 

But even to this degree of acquisition, that credit, of which I 
have already said so much, is highly important, since its general 
effect is to raise the price of wages, and render industry productive. 
There is no condition so low, if it be attended with industry and 
economy, which this credit does not benefit, as any one will find, 
if he will examine and follow out its operations. 

Such, Mr. President, being the credit system in the United 
States, as I understand it, I now add, tliat the banks have been the 
agents, and their circulation the instrument, by which the general 
operations of this credit have been conducted. Much of the capi- 
tal of the country, placed at interest, is vested in bank stock, and 
those who borrow, borrow at the banks ; and discounts of bills, and 
anticipation of payments, in all its forms, the regular and appropri- 
ate duty of banks, prevail universally. 

In the North, the banks have enabled the manufacturers of all 
classes to realize the proceeds of their industry at an early moment. 
The course has been, that the producers of commodities for South- 
ern consumption, having despatched their products, draw their bills. 
These bills are discounted at the banks, and with the proceeds other 
raw material is bought, and other labor paid ; and thus the general 
business is continued in progress. All this is well known to 
those who have had opportunity to be acquainted with such con- 
cerns. 

But bank credit has not been more necessary to the North than 
to the South. Indeed, no where has interest been higher, or the de- 
mand ibr capital greater, or the full benefit of credit more indispen- 
sable, than in the new cotton and sugar-growing States. I ask 
gentlemen from those States if diis be not so ? Have not the plan- 
tations been bought, and the necessary labor procured, to a great 
extent, on credit? Has not this credit been obtained at the banks? 
Even now do they not find credits, or advances on their crops, im- 
portant in enabling them to get those crops to market ? And if 



285 

there had been no credit — if a hard-money system had prevailed, 
let me ask them what would have been, at this moment, the condi- 
tion of things in Alabama, Louisiana, IMississippi, and Arkansas ? 
These States, sir. with Tennessee and the South Atlantic States, 
constitute the great plantation interest. That there has been a vast 
demand for capital to be invested in this interest, is sufficiently 
proved, by the high price paid for the use of money. 

In my opinion, sir, credit is as essential to the great export of the 
South, as to any other interest. The agriculture of the cotton and 
sugar-producing States partakes, in no inconsiderable degree, of the 
nature of commerce. The production and sale of one great staple 
only, is an operation essentially different from ordinary farming pur- 
suits. The exports of the South, indeed, may be considered as 
the aggregate result of various forms and modes of industry, carried 
on by various hands, and in various places, rather than as the 
mere product of the plantation. That product itself is local ; but 
its indispensable aids and means are drawn from every part of the' 
Union. What is it, sir, that enables Southern labor to apply itself so 
exclusively to the cultivation of these great articles for export ? 
Certainly, it is so applied, because its own necessities for provision and 
clothing are supplied, meanwhile, from other quarters. The South 
raises to sell, and not to consume ; and with the proceeds of the sales 
it supplies itself with whatever its own consumption demands. 
There are exceptions ; but this is the general truth. The hat- 
makers, shoe-makers, furniture-makers, and carriage-makers of 
the North, the spinners at Lovv^eli, and the weavers of Philadel- 
])hia, are all contributors to the general product both of cotton and 
sugar, for export abroad ; as are the live-stock raisers of Kentucky, 
the grain-growing farmers and all who produce and vend provisions 
in Indiana, Ohio and Illinois. The Northern ship-owner and the 
mariner, who carry these products to market, are agents acting to 
the same end; and so are they too who, little thinking of cotton- 
fields, or sugar estates, are pursuing their adventurous employment 
in the whale fisheries, over the whole surface, and among all the 
islands, of the Pacific and the Indian oceans. If we take the annual 
cotton crop at sixty millions of dollars, we may, perhaps, find that 
the amount of forty-five millions is expended, either for interest on 
capital advanced, or for the expense of clothing and supporting- 
labor, or in the charges which belong to the household, the domes- 
tic expenditure, and education. 

Thus, sir, all the laborious classes are, in truth, cotton-growers and 
sugar-makers. Each, in its own way, and to the extent of its own 
productiveness, contributes to swell the magnitude of that enormous 
export, which was nothing at the commencement of this Govern- 
ment, and which now has run up to so many millions. Through all 
these operations the stream of credit has constantly flowed, and there 



286 

is not one of them that will not be checked and interrupted, em- 
barrassed and thwarted, if this stream be now dried up. This con- 
nexion of the various interests of the country with one another,forms 
an important and interesting topic. It is one of the natural ties of the 
Union. The variety of production, and mutual wants mutually sup- 
plied, constitute a strong bond between different States ; and long 
may that bond last, growing with their growth, and strengthening 
with their strength. 

But, Mr. President, that portion of our productions which takes 
the form of export, becomes distinct and visible ; it is prominent and 
striking, and is seen and wondered at by everybody. The annual 
returns all show it, and every day's commercial intelligence speaks 
of it. We gaze at it with admiration, and the world is no less ad- 
miring than ourselves. 

With other branches of industry the case is quite different. The 
products of these branches, being put in the train of domestic ex- 
chano-es, and consumed in the country, do not get into statistical 
tables, are not collected in masses, and are seldom presented, in the 
aggregate, to the public view. They are not of the character of a 
few large and mighty rivers, but of a thousand little streams, mean- 
dering through all the fields of business and of life, and refreshing 
and fertilizing the whole. 

Few of us, Mr. President, are aware of what would be the amount 
of the general production of the country, if it could be accurately 
ascertained. The Legislature of Massachusetts, under the recom- 
mendation of the intelligent Chief Magistrate of that State, has 
caused to be prepared and published a report on the condition and 
products of certain branches of its industry, for the year ending in 
April, 1837. The returns of the authorities of each city and town 
were made, apparently, with much care ; and the whole has been 
collated by the Secretary of State, and the result distinctly presented 
in well-arranged statistical tables. From a summary of the state- 
ments in these tables, I will take the liberty of selecting a few arti- 
cles, and of adverting to them here, as instances, or specimens, of 
the annual product of labor and industry in that State'. 

And to begin with a very necessary and important article : I find, 
that of boots and shoes, the value of the whole amount manufac- 
tured within the year exceeds fourteen millions and a half of dollars. 
If the amount of other articles of the same class or matenal, be 
added, viz : leather, saddles, trunks, harness, fee, the total will be 
not far from eighteen millions and a half of dollars. 

I will read the names of some other articles, and state the amount 
of annual product belonging to each : 

Cotton fabrics f 17,409,000 

Woollen fabrics 10,399,000 



287 

Fisheries ---.--- 7,592,000 

Books and stationary, and paper - - - 2,592,000 

Soap and candles _ _ - - - 1,620,000 

Nails, brads, and tacks 2,500,000 

Machinery of various kinds - - - - 1,235,000 

Agricultural implements _ . - - 645,000 

Glass 831,000 

Hats 700,000 

Clothing, neckcloths, &c. - - - - 2,013,000 

Wool - - 539,000 

These, sir, are samples. The grand total is ninety-one million 
seven hundred thousand dollars. From this, however, deductions 
are to be made for the cost of the raw material when imported, and 
for certain articles enumerated under different heads. But, then, the 
whole statement is confined to some branches of industry only ; and 
to present an entire and comprehensive view, there should be added 
the gains of commerce within the year, the earnings of navigation, 
and almost the whole agricultural product of the State. 

The result of all, if it could be collated and exhibited together, 
would show that the annual product of Massachusetts capital and 
Massachusetts industry exceeds one hundred millions of dollars. 
Now, sir, Massachusetts is a small State, in extent of territory. 
You may mark out her dimensions seven or eight times on the map 
of Virginia. Yet her population is seven hundred thousand souls ; 
and the annual result of their laborious industry, economy, and labor, 
is as I have stated. 

Mr. President, in looking over this result, it is most gratifying to 
find that its great mass consists in articles equally essential and use- 
ful to all classes. They are not luxuries, but necessaries and com- 
forts. They belong to food and clothing, to household conveniences, 
and education. As they are more and more multiplied, the great 
majority of society becomes more elevated, better instructed, and 
happier in all respects. 1 have looked though this whole list, sir, 
to find what there is in it that might be fairly classed among the 
higlier luxuries of life ; and what do I find ? In the whole hundred 
millions, 1 find but one such item ; and that is an item of two or 
three hundred thousand dollars for "jewelry, silver, and silver-plate." 
This is all that belongs to luxury, in her annual product, of a hun- 
dred millions ; and of this, no doubt, the far greater portion was 
sent abroad. And yet vve hear daily, sir, of the amassing of aris- 
tocratic wealth, by the progress of manufactures, and the operations 
of the credit system ! Aristocracy, it is said, is stealing upon us, 
and, in the form of aggregate wealth, is watching to seize political 
power from the hands of the people ! We have been more than 
once gravely admonished that, in order to improve the times, and 



288 

restore a metallic currency for the benefit of the poor, the rich ought 
to melt down their plate ! Whatever such a melting process might 
find to act upon elsewhere, Mr. President, I assure you that in 
Massachusetts it would discover little. A few spoons, candlesticks, 
and other similar articles, some old family pitchers and tankards, and 
the silver porringers of our nurseries, would be about the whole. 

Sir, if there be any aristocrats in Massachusetts, the people are 
all aristocrats ; because I do not believe there is on earth, in a highly 
civilized society, a greater equality in the condition of men, than 
exists there. If there be a man in the State who maintains what is 
called an equipage, has servants in livery, or drives four horses in 
his coach, I am not acquainted with him. On the other hand, 
there are few who are not able to carry their wives and daughters 
to church in some decent conveyance. It is no matter of regret or 
sorrow to us that few are very rich ; but it is our pride and glory 
that few are very poor. It is our still higher pride, and our just 
boast, as I think, that all her citizens possess means of intelligence 
and education ; and that, of all her productions, she reckons among 
the very chiefest, those which spring from the culture of the mind 
and the heart. 

Mr. President, one of the most striking characteristics of this age 
is the extraordinary progress which it has witnessed in popular knowl- 
edge. A new and powerful impulse has been acting in the social 
system of late, producing this effect in a most remarkable degree. 

In morals, in politics, in art, in literature, there is a vast accession 
to the number of readers, and to the number of proficients. The 
present state of popular knowledge is not the result of a slow and 
uniform progress, proceeding through a lapse of years, with the 
same reo-ular decree of motion. It is evidentlv the result of some 
new causes, brought into powerful action, and producing their con- 
sequences rapidly and strikingly. What, sir, are these causes? 

This is not an occasion, sir, for discussing such a question at 
length : allow me to say, however, that the improved state of pop- 
ular knowledge is but the necessary result of the improved condi- 
tion of the great mass of the people. Knowledge is not one of our 
merely physical wants. Life may be sustained without it. But, 
in order to live, men must be fed, and clothed, and sheltered ; and 
in a state of things in which one's whole labor can do no more than 
procure clothes, food, and shelter, he can have no time nor means 
for mental improvement. Knowledge, therefore, is not attained, 
;ind cannot be attained, till there is some degree of respite from 
daily manual toil, and never-ending drudgery. But whenever a 
less degree of labor will produce the absolute necessaries of life, 
then there come leisure and means, both to teach and to learn. 

But if this great and wonderful extension of popular knowledge 
be the result of an improved condition, it may, in the next place, 
well be asked, what are the causes which have thus suddenly pro- 



289 

duced that great Improvement? How Is it that the means of food, 
clothing, and slieltcr, are now so much more cheaply and abun- 
dantly procured than formerly ? Sir, the main cause I take to be 
the progress of scientific art, or a new extent of the application of 
science to art. This it is, which has so much distinguished the last 
half century in Europe and in America; and its effects are every- 
where visible, and especially among us. jNIan has found new allies 
and auxiliaries, in the powere of nature, and in the inventions of 
mechanism. 

The general doctrine of political economy is, that wealth consists 
in whatever is useful or convenient to man, and that labor is the 
producing cause of all this wealth. This is very true. But, then, 
what is labor? In the sense of political writers, and in common 
language, it means human industry ; but, in a philosophical view, 
it may receive a much more comprehensive meaning. It is not, in 
that view, human toil only — the mere action of thews and muscles ; 
but it is any active agency which, working upon the materials with 
which the world is supplied, brings forth products useful or con- 
venient to man. The materials of wealth are in the earth, in the 
seas, and in their natural and unaided productions. Labor obtains 
these materials, works upon them, and fashions them to human 
use. Now, it has been the object of scientific art, or of the 
application of science to art, to increase this active agency, to aug- 
ment its power, by creating millions of laborers in the fonn of au- 
tomatic machines, all to be diligently employed, and kept at work 
by the force of natural po^^■ers. To this end these natural powers, 
principally those of steam and falling water, are subsidized and ta- 
ken into human employment. Spinning machines, power-looms, 
and all the mechanical devices, acting, among other operatives, in 
the factories and work-shops, are but so many laborers. They are 
usually denominated \ahor-saving machines, but it would be more 
just to call them \ahoT-(Joi7ig machines. They are made to be ac- 
tive agents ; to have motion, and to produce effect ; and though 
without intelligence, they are guided by those laws of science, 
which are exact and perfect, and they produce results, therefore, in 
general, more accurate than the human hand is capable of produc- 
ing. When we look upon one of these, we behold a mute fellow- 
laborer, of immense power, of mathematical exactness, and ofever- 
durin'T and unwearied effort. And while he is thus a most skilful 
and productive laborer, he is a non-consumer — at least, beyond 
the wants of his mechanical being. He is not clamorous for food, 
raiment, or shelter, and makes no demands for the expenses of edu- 
cation. The eating and drinking, the reading and writing, and 
clothes-wearing world, are benefitted by the labors of these co- 
operatives, in the same way as if Providence had provided for their 
service millions of beings, like ourselves in external appearance, 
VOL. HI. 37 y 



290 

able to labor and to toil, and yet requiring little or nothing for their 
own consumption or subsistence ; or rather, as if Providence had 
created a race of giants, each of whom, demanding no more for his 
support and consumption than a common laborer, should yet be 
able to perform the work of a hundred. 

Now, sir, turn back to the Massachusetts tables of production, 
and you will see that it is these automatic allies and cooperators, 
and these powers of nature, thus employed and placed under human 
direction, which have come, with such prodigious effect, to man's 
aid, in the great business of procuring the means of living, of com- 
fort, and of wealth, and which have so swollen the products of her 
skilful industry. Look at these tables once more, sir, and you wiH 
see the effects of labor, united with and acting upon capital. Look 
yet again, and you will see that credit, mutual trust, prompt and 
punctual dealings, and commercial confidence, are all mixed up as 
indispensable elements in the general system. 

I will ask you to look yet once more, sir, and you will perceive 
that general competence, great equality in human condition, a de- 
gree of popular knowledge and intelligence, no where surpassed, if 
any where equalled, and the prevalence of good moral sentiment, 
and extraordinary general prosperity, is the result of the whole. 
Sir, I have done with Massachusetts. I do not praise the old " Bay 
State " of the Revolution ; I only present her as she is. 

Mr. President, such is the state of things actually existing In the 
country, and of which I have now given you a sample. And yet 
there are persons who constantly clamor against this state of things. 
They call it aristocracy. They beseech the poor to make war 
upon the rich, while, in truth, they know not who are either rich or 
poor. They complain of oppression, speculation, and the perni- 
cious influence of accumulated wealth. They cry out loudly against 
all banks and corporations, and all the means by w hich small capi- 
tals become united, in order to produce important and beneficial 
results. They carry on a mad hostility against all established insti- 
tutions. They would choke up the fountains of industry, and dry 
all its streams. 

In a country of unbounded liberty, they clamor against oppres- 
sion. In a country of perfect equality, they would move heaven 
and earth against privilege and monopoly. In a country where 
property is more equally divided than any where else, they rend the 
air with the shouting of agrarian doctrines. In a country where the 
wages of labor are high beyond all parallel, and where lands are 
cheap, and the means of living low, they would teach the laborer 
that he is but an oppressed slave. Sir, what can such men want ? 
What do they mean ? They can want nothing, sir, but to enjoy the 
fruits of other men's labor. They can mean nothing but disturbance 
and disorder ; the diffusion of corrupt principles, and the destrue- 



291 

tion of the moral sentiments and moral habits of society. A licen- 
tiousness of feeling and of action is sometimes produced by pros- 
perity itself. Men cannot always resist the temptation to which 
they are exposed by the very abundance of the bounties of Provi- 
dence and the very happiness of their own condition ; as the steed, 
full of the pasture, will, sometimes, throw himself against its en- 
closures, break away from its confinement, and, feeling now free 
from needless restraint, betake himself to the moors and barrens, 
where w ant, ere long, brings him to his senses, and starvation and 
death close his career. 

Having said so much, sir, on the general condition of the country, 
and explained what I understand by credit, I proceed to consider 
the present actual state of the currency. 

The most recent Treasury estimate, which I have seen, supposes 
that there are eighty millions of metallic money now in the country. 
This I believe, however, to be a good deal too high ; I cannot be- 
lieve it exceeds sixty, at most ; and supposing one-half this sum to 
be in the banks, thirty millions are in circulation, or in private hands. 
We have seven hundred banks and branches, with capitals assigned 
for the security of their notes and bills, amounting to two hundred 
and eighty millions. The amount of bank notes in actual circula- 
tion is supposed to be one hundred millions ; so that our whole cir- 
culation is about one hundred and thirty millions. The amount of 
debts due to the banks, or the amount of their loans and discounts, 
may be taken at four hundred and fifty millions. 

Now, sir, this very short statement exhibits at once a general out- 
line of our existing system of currency and credit. We see a great 
amount of money or property in banks, as their assigned and ap- 
propriate capital, and we see a great amount due to these banks. 
These bank debtors generally belong to the classes of active busi- 
ness, or are such as have taken up credits for purposes of invest- 
ment in lands or merchandise, looking to future proceeds as the 
means of repayment. If we compare this state of circulation, of 
bank capital and bank debt, with the same things in England, im- 
portant differences will not fail to strike us. 

The whole paper circulation of England, by the latest accounts, 
is twenty-eight millions sterling — made up of eighteen millions of 
Bank of England notes, and ten millions of the notes of private 
bankers, and joint-stock companies ; bullion in the bank, nine and 
a half millions ; debts due the Bank of England, twenty-two and 
a half millions. The amount of loans and discounts by private 
bankers and joint-stock companies is not usually stated, I believe, 
in the public accounts. If it bear the same proportion to their notes 
in circulation, as in the case of the Bank of England, it would ex- 
ceed twelve millions. We may, therefore, take the amount of bank 
debts in England to be thirty-five millions. But I suppose that, 



292 

of the securities held by the Bank of England, exchequer notes 
constitute a large part ; in other w ords, that a large part of the 
bank debt is due by Government. The amount of coin in actual 
circulation is estimated to be thirty and a half millions. The whole 
amount of circulation in England, metallic and ])aper, is usually 
stated, in round numbers, at sixty millions ; which, rating the pound 
sterling at ^4 80, is equal to two hundred and eighty-eight millions 
of dollars. 

It will be seen, sir, that our papercirculation is one-half less than that 
of England, but our bank debt is, nevertheless, much greater ; since 
thirty-five millions sterling amount to only one hundred and sixty- 
eight millions of dollars ; and this sum, too, includes the amount of 
exchequer bills, or Government debt in the form of such bills, which 
the bank holds. These facts are very material to any just compari- 
son of the state of things in the two countries. The whole, or nearly 
the whole, capital of the Bank of England is lent to Goverament, 
not by means of exchequer notes, but on a permanent loan. And as 
to the private banks and joint-stock companies, though they issue bills 
for circulation, they have no assigned or appropriated capital whatever. 
The bills circulate on the private credit of the individual banker, or of 
those who compose the joint-stock companies. In the United States, 
an amount of capital, supposed to be sufficient to sustain the credit 
of the paper and secure the public against loss, is provided by law 
in the act of incorporation for each bank, and is assigned as a trust- 
fund for the payment of the liabilities of the bank. And if this 
capital be fairly and substantially advanced, it is a proper security ; 
and, in most cases, no doubt, it is substantially advanced. The 
directors are trustees of this fund, and they are liable, both civilly 
and criminally, for mismanagement, embezzlement, or breach of 
trust. 

This amount of capital, thus secured, is the basis of loans and 
discounts ; and this is the reason why permanent, or at least long 
loans are not considered so inappropriate to banking operations, with 
us, as they are in England. With us, it is evident that the directors 
are agents, holding a fund intended to be loaned, and acting between 
lender and borrower ; and this form of loan has been found exceed- 
ingly convenient and useful in the country. 

In some States, it is greatly preferred to mortgages, though there 
are others in which mortgages are usual. Whether exactly con- 
formable to the true notion of banking, or not, the truth is, that the 
object and operation of our banks is to loan money ; and this is 
mostly on personal security. The system, no doubt, is liable to 
abuse in particular instances. There may be directors who will 
loan too freely to themselves and their friends. Gross cases of this 
kind have recently been detected and exposed, and, I hope, will be 
suitably treated ; but, considering the great number of banks, these 



293 

instances, I think, are remarkably few. In general, the banks have 
been well conducted, and are believed to be solvent and safe. 

We have heard much, sir, in the course of this debate, of excess 
in the issue of bank notes for circulation. I have no doubt, sir, 
that there was a very improper expansion some years ago. When 
President Jackson, in 1832, had negatived the bill for continuing 
the Bank of the United States, (which act I esteem to be the true 
original source of all the disorders of the currency,) a vast addition 
was immediately made to the number of State banks. In 1833, 
the public deposits were actually removed from the Bank of the 
United States, although its charter was not to expire till 1S38, and 
placed in selected State banks. And, for the purpose of showing 
how much better the public would be accommodated without, than 
with, a Bank of the United States, these banks were not only en- 
couraged, but admonished, to be free and liberal in loans and dis- 
counts, made on the strength of the public moneys, to merchants 
and other individuals. The circular letter from the Treasury 
Department, addressed to the new deposit banks, under date of 
26th September, 1833, has this significant clause, which could not 
have been misunderstood : — 

"The deposits of public money will enable you to afford in- 
creased facilities to commerce, and to extend your accommodation 
to individuals ; and as the duties which are payable to the Govern- 
ment arise from the business and enterprise of the merchants 
engaged in foreign trade, it is but reasonable that they should be 
preferred in the additional accommodation which the public depos- 
its will enable your institution to give, whenever it can be done 
without injustice to the claims of other classes of the community." 

Having read this letter, sir, I ask leave to refer the Senate to the 
20di section of the bill now before us. There we find that, " if 
any officer, charged with the safe-keeping of the public money, 
shall loan the same, or any portion thereof, with or without interest, 
such act shall be deemed an embezzlement and a high misdemeanor, 
and the party convicted thereof shall be sentenced to imprison- 
ment." Sir, what a pretty piece of consistency is here ! In 
1833 the depositaries of the public money were not even left to 
their own desire for gain, or their wishes to accommodate others, as 
being sufficient incentives to lend it out : they were admonished and 
directed to aflbrd increased facilities to commerce, and to extend 
their accommodation to individuals, since the public moneys in their 
vaults would enable them to give such additional accommodation ! 
Now, sir, under this bill, any officer who shall do any one of the 
same things, instead of being praised, is to be punished : he is to 
be adjudged guilty of embezzlement and of a high misdemeanor, 
and is to be confined, for aught I know, in cells as dark and dismal 
as the vaults and safes which are to contain our metallic currency. 
But although I think, sir, that the acts of Government created this 



294 

expansion, yet I am certainly of opinion that there was a very un- 
due expansion created. A contraction, however, had begun ; and 
I am of opinion, that had it not been for the specie order of July, 
183G, and for the manner in which the deposit law %\ as executed, 
the banks would have gone through the crisis without suspension. 
This is my full and firm belief. I cannot, however, discuss these 
points here. They were treated with very great ability, last year, 
by a gentleman who then occupied one of the seats of Georgia on 
this floor. Whomsoever he did not satisfy, I cannot convince. Still, 
sir, the question is, whether there was an excess in the general 
amount of our circulation, in May last, or whether there is now 
such excess. 

By what standard is this to be judged ? If the question be, 
whether there be too much paper in circulation, it may be answered, 
by reference to the amount of coin in the banks from which the 
paper issues ; because I am unquestionably of opinion — an opinion 
which I believe nothing can ever shake — that the true criterion by 
which to decide the question of excess, in a convertible paper cur- 
rency, is the amount of that paper, compared with the gold and 
silver in the banks. Such excess would not be proved, absolutely 
and certainly, in every case, by the mere fact of the suspension of 
specie payments ; because such an event might be produced by 
panic, or other sudden cause, having power to disturb the best-regu- 
lated system of paper circulation. But the immediate question now 
is, whether, taking the whole circulation together, both metallic and 
paper, there was an excess existing in May, or is an excess now 
existing? Is one hundred and thirty millions an excessive or un- 
due amount of circulation for the United States ? Seeing that one 
part of this circulation is coin, and the other part paper, resting upon 
coin, and intended to be convertible, is the whole mass more than 
niay be fairly judged necessary to represent the property, the trans- 
actions, and the business of the country ? Or, in order to sustain 
such an amount of circulation, and to keep that part of it which is 
composed of paper in a safe state, should we be obliged to attempt 
to draw to ourselves more than our just proportion of that metallic 
money, which is in the use of all the commercial nations ? These 
questions appear to me to be but different modes of stating the same 
inquiry. 

Upon this subject we may, perhaps, form some general idea, by 
comparing ourselves with others. Various things, no doubt, exist, 
in different places and countries, to modify, either by enlarging or 
diminishing, the demand for money or currency in the transactions 
of business ; still, the amount of trade and commerce may furnish a 
general element of comparison between different states or nations. 
The aggregate of American imports and exports in 1836 was three 
liundred and eighteen millions ; that of England, reckoning the 



295 

pound sterling at ,*f 4 SO, again, was four hundred and eighty mil- 
lions, as near as I can ascertain ; the currency of England being, 
as already stated, sixty millions sterling, or two hundred and eighty- 
eight millions of dollars. If we work out a result from these pro- 
portions, the currency of the United States, it will be found, should 
be one hundred and ninety nilllions, in order to be equal to that of 
England ; but, according to the estimates of the Treasury, it did 
not, even in that year, exceed one hundred and eighty millions. 

Our population is about equal to that of England and Wales : 
the amount of our mercantile tonnage, perhaps, one fifth less. But, 
then, we are to consider that our country is vastly wider; and our 
facilities of internal exchange, by means of bills of exchange, greatly 
less. Indeed, there are branches of our intercourse, in which remit- 
tances cannot be well made, except in currency. Take one ex- 
ample : The agricultural products of Kentucky are sold to the South ; 
her purchases of commodities made at the North. There can be, 
therefore, very little of direct exchange between her and the places 
of purchase and sale. The trade goes round in a circle. There- 
fore, while the Bank of tlie United States existed, payments were 
made to a vast amount in the Northland East by citizens of Ken- 
tucky, and of the States similarly situated, not in bills of exchange, 
but in the notes of the Bank. 

These considerations augment the demand for currency. More 
than all, the country is new, sir ; almost the whole of our cap- 
ital active; and the entire amount of property, in the aggregate, 
rapidly increasing. In the last three years, thirty-seven millions of 
acres of land have been separated from the wilderness, purchased, 
paid for, and become subject to private individual ownership, to 
transfer and sale, and all other dispositions to which other real estate 
is subject. It has thus become property, to be bought and sold for 
money ; whereas, while in the hands of Govei'nment, it called 
for no expenditure, formed the basis of no transactions, and created 
no demand for currency. Within that short period, our people have 
bought from Government a territory as large as the wbole of Eng- 
land and Wales, and, taken together, far more fertile by nature. 
This seems incredible, yet the returns show it. Suppose all this 
to have been bought at the minimum price of a dollar and a quarter 
per acre ; and suppose the value to be increased in the common 
ratio in which we know the value of land is increased, by such 
purchase, and by the preliminary steps and beginnings of cultiva- 
tion ; an immense augmentation, it will readily be perceived, is 
made, even in so short a time, of the aggregate of property, in 
nominal price, and, to a great extent, in real value also. 

On the whole, sir, I confess I know no standard by which I can 
decide that our circulation is at present in excess. I do not believe 
it is so. Nor was there, as I think, any depreciation in the value of 



296 

money, up to the moment of the suspension of specie payments by 
the banks, comparing our currency with the currency of other na- 
tions. An American paper dollar would buy a silver dollar in Eng- 
land, deducting only the charge of transporting a dollar across the 
ocean, because it commanded a silver dollar here. There may be 
excess, however, I admit, where there is no present depreciation, 
in the sense in which I now use the term. 

It is hardly necessary to dwell, IMr. President, on the evils of a 
suddenly diminished circulation. It arrests business, puts an end 
to it, and overwhelms all debtors, by depression and downfall of 
prices. And even if we reduce circulation — not suddenly, but 
still reduce it farther than is necessary to keep it within just and 
reasonable limits — we produce many mischiefs ; we augment the 
necessity of foreign loans ; we contract business, discourage enter- 
prise, slacken the activity of capital, and restrain the commercial 
spirit of the country. It is very important to be remembered, sir, 
that, in our intercourse w ith other nations, we are acting on a prin- 
ciple of equality ; that is to say, we do not j)rotect our own ship- 
ping interest by peculiar privileges ; we ask a clear field, and seek 
no favor. Yet the materials for ship-building are high with us, 
and the wages of ship-builders and seamen are high also. We have 
to contend against these unfavorable circumstances ; and if, in ad- 
dition to these, we are to suffer further by unnecessary restraints on 
currency, and by a cramped credit, who can tell what may be the 
effect? Money is abundant in England, very abundant ; the rate 
of interest, therefore, is low, and capital will be seeking its invest- 
ment wherever it can hope to find it. If we derange our own curr 
rency, compulsively curtail circulation, and break up credit, how 
are the commerce and navigation of the United States to maintain 
themselves against foreign competition ? 

Before leaving, altogether, this subject of an excessive circulation, 
Mr. President, I will say a few words upon a topic which, if time 
would permit, I should be glad to consider at more length ; I mean, 
sir, the proper guards and securities for a paper circulation. I have 
occasionally addressed the Senate on this subject before, especially 
in the debate on the specie circular, in December, 1S36 ; but I wish 
to recur to it again, because I hold it to be of the utmost impor- 
tance to prove, if it can be proved, to the satisfaction of the country, 
that a convertible paper currency may be so guarded as to be secure 
against probable dangers. I say. sir, a convertible paper currency ; 
for I lay it down as an unquestionable truth, that no paper can be 
made equal, and kept equal to gold and silver, but such as is con- 
vertible into gold and silver, on demand. But I have gone farther, 
and still go farther than this ; and I contend that even convertibility, 
though itself indispensable, is not a certain and unfailing ground of 
reliance. There is a liability to excessive issues of paper, even 



297 

while paper Is convertible at will. Of this there can be no doubt. 
Where, then, shall a regulator be found? What principle of pre- 
vention may we rely on ? 

Now 1 think, sir, it is too common with banks, in judging of their 
condition, to set off all their liabilities against all their resources. 
They look to the quantity of specie in their vaults, and to the notes 
and bills becoming payable, as means or assets ; and, with these, 
they expect to be able to meet their returning notes, and to answer 
the claims of depositors. So far as the bank is to be regarded as a 
mere bank of discount, all this is very well. But banks of circula- 
tion exercise another function. By the very act of issuing their own 
paper, they affect the general amount of currency. In England, the 
Bank of England, and in the United States, all the banks, expand 
or contract tlie amount of circulation, of course, as they increase or 
curtail the general amount of their own paper. And this renders 
it necessary that they should be regukited and controlled. The 
question, is, by what rule? To this I answer, by subjecting all 
banks to the rule which the most discreet of them always follow — 
by compelling them to maintain a certain fixed proportion between 
specie and circulation ; without regarding deposits on one hand, 
or notes payable on the other. 

There will always occur occasional fluctuations in trade, and a 
demand for specie, by one country on another, will arise. It is too 
much the practice, when such occurrences take place, and specie is 
leaving the country, for banks to issue more paper, in order to pre- 
vent a scarchy of money. But exactly the opposite course should 
be adopted, A demand for specie to go abroad should be regarded 
as conclusive evidence of the necessity of contracting circulation. 
If, indeed, in such cases, it could be certainly known that the de- 
mand would be of short duration, the temporary pressure might be 
relieved by an issue of paper to fill the place of departing specie. 
But this never can be known. There is no safety, therefore, but 
in meeting the case at the moment, and in conforming to the infalli- 
ble index of the exchanges. Circulating paper is thus kept always 
nearer to the character, and to the circumstances of that, of which 
it is designed to be the representative — the metallic money. This 
subject might be pursued, I think, and clearly illustrated ; but, for 
the present, I only exjjress my belief that, with experience before 
us, and witli the lights w hich recent discussions, both in Europe 
and America, hold out, a national bank might be established, with 
more regard to its function of regulating currency, than to its func- 
tion of discount, on principles, and subject to regulations, such as 
should render its operations extremely useful ; and I should hope 
that, with an example before them of plain and eminent advantage, 
State institutions would conform to the same rules and principles ; 
and that, in this way, all the advantages of convertible paper might 
be enjoyed, with just security against its dangers. 
VOL. III. 38 



298 

I have detained tlie Senate too long, sir, with these observations 
upon the state of the country, and its pecuniary system and condition. 

And now, when the banks have suspended payments, universally ; 
when the internal exchanges are all deranged, and the business of 
the country most seriously interrupted, the questions are — 

Whether the measure before us is suitable to our condition, and ? 

Whether it is a just and proper exercise and fulfilment of the 
powers and duties of Congress ? 

What, then, sir, will be the practical operation and effect of this 
measure, if it should become a law ? 

Like its predecessor of the last session, the bill proposes nothing 
for the general currency of the country ; nothing to restore ex- 
changes ; nothing to bring about a speedy resumption of specie 
payments by the banks. Its whole professed object is the collec- 
tion and disbursement of the public revenue. Some of its friends, 
indeed, say, that when it shall go into operation, it will, incident ally, 
produce a favorable effect on the currency, by restraining the issue 
of bank paper. But others press it as if its effect was to be the 
final overthrow of all banks, and the introduction of an exclusive 
metallic currency for all the uses of the country. 

Are we to understand, then, that it is intended, by means, of 
which this is the first, to rid the country of all banks, as being but 
so many nuisances, and to abolish all paper currency whatever? 

Or is it expected, on the contrary, that after this system shall be 
adopted for the use of Government, there will still be a pa))er cur- 
rency in the country for the use of the people ? 

And if there shall still be a paper currency, will thijt currency 
consist of irredeemable Government paper, or of convertible bank 
notes, such as have circulated heretofore ? These questions must 
be answered, before we can judge accurately of the operation of 
this bill. 

As to an exclusive metallic currency, sir, the Administration on 
this point is regularly Janus-faced. Out doors, and among the 
people, it shows itself " all clinquant, all in gold." There, every 
thing is to be hard money — no paper rags — no delusive credits 
— no bank monopolies — no trust in paper of any kind. But in 
the Treasury Department, and in the Houses of Congress, we see 
another aspect — a mixed appearance, partly gold and partly paper ; 
gold for Government, and paper for the people. The small voice 
which is heard here, allows the absolute necessity of paper of some 
sort, and to some extent; while the shouts in tlie community de- 
mand the destruction of all banks, and the final extermination of all 
paper circulation. 

To the people, the lion roars against paper money in all the loud- 
ness and terror of his natural voice ; but to members of Congress, 
he is more discreet; lest he should frighten them out of their wits, 



299 

he here restrains and modulates, and roars " as gently as any suck- 
ing dove, or, as it were, any nightingale." The impracticability 
of an exclusive metallic currency, the absurdity of attempting any 
such thing in a country like this, is so manifest, that nobody here 
undertakes to support it by any reasoning or argument. All that 
is said in its favor, is general denunciation of paper, boisterous out- 
cry against the banks, and declamation against existing institutions, 
full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. 

The moment any one considers it, he sees how ridiculous any 
such attempt would be. An exclusive metallic circulation for the 
second commercial country on earth, in the nineteenth century ! 
Sir, you might as well propose to abolish commerce altogether. 

The currency of England is estimated at sixty millions sterling; 
and it is Mr. McCulloch's calculation, that if this currency were all 
gold, allowing only one quarter of one per cent, for wear of metals, 
the annual expense, attending such a currency, would be three 
millions and a quarter a year, or nearly five per cent, upon the 
whole. With us, this charge would be much greater. The loss 
of capital would be more, owing to the higher rates of interest; and 
besides all this, is the cost of transportation, which, in a country so 
extensive as ours, would be vast, and not easily calculated. We 
should also require, proportionally, more specie than is requisite in 
England, because our system of exchange, by means of bills of ex- 
change, is, at present, and would be, under such a system as is pro- 
))osed, much less perfect and convenient than that of England. 
Besides, the English metallic circulation is mostly gold, gold being 
in England the standard metal. With us, silver and gold both are 
made standards, at a fixed relation ; and if we should succeed to 
keep this relation so true as to preserve both of the precious metals 
among us, (which, indeed, is not very probable,) our circulation 
would be still more expensive and cumbrous, from the quantity of 
silver which it would contain. The silver in the world is estimated 
to be fifty times as much as the gold in amount, and consequently 
something more than three times in value. If both should circulate, 
therefore, equally, in proportion to value, the currency would be 
three parts silver, and one gold. 

Now, sir, the annual expense of such a circulation, upon the basis 
of Mr. McCulloch's estimate, would exceed the whole annual 
expenditure made for our army and our navy. Consider, sir, the 
amount of actual daily payments made in the country. It Is difficult 
to estimate it, and quite impossible to ascertain it, with any accu- 
racy. But we can form some notion of it, by the daily amount of 
payments in the banks in some of the cities. In times of prosperous 
business and commerce, the daily amount of payments in the banks 
of New York alone has been equal to eight millions. Whether we 
call this a tenth, a twentieth, or a fiftieth part of all the payments 



300 

aiid receipts made dally in the country, we see to what an aggre- 
gate result the whole would rise. And how is it possible that such 
amount of receipt and payment could be performed by an actual 
passing of gold and silver from hand to hand ? 

Such notions, sir, hardly require serious refutation. 

]Mr. President, an entire metallic currency w ould necessarily cre- 
ate banks immediately. Where would the money be kept, or how 
could it be remitted ? Banks of deposit niust and would be in- 
stantly provided for it. Would the merchants of the cities be seen, 
in their daily walks of business, with servants behind them with bags 
of gold and kegs of silver on their wheel-barrows ? What folly is 
great enough to imagine this ? If there were not now a bank-note 
nor a bank in the country, and if there should be an exclusive spe- 
cie currency to-morrow morning at nine o'clock, there would be fifty 
banks before sunset. From necessity, there would be created at 
once places of deposit ; and persons having money in such depos- 
itories would draw checks for it, and pass these checks as money, 
and from one hand they would pass to another; or the depositary 
himself would issue certificates of deposit, and these would pass as 
currency. And all this would do no more than just to carry us 
back two or three hundred years, to the infancy of banks. We 
should then have done nothing but reject the experience of the most 
civilized nations, for some centuries, as well as all our own experi- 
ence, and have returned to the rude conceptions of former 
times. These certificates of deposit would soon be found to be 
often issued without any solid capital, or actual deposit. Abuses 
arising from this source would call for legislative interference, and 
the Legislature would find it necessary to restrain the issue of paper 
intended for circulation, by enacting that such issues should only be 
made on the strength of competent capital, actually provided and 
assigned, placed under proper regulation, and managed by persons 
responsible to the laws. And this would bring us again exactly to 
the state of things in which we now are ; that is to say, to the use 
of the paper of banks, estabhshed, regulated, and controlled by law. 
In the mean time, before this process could be carried through, half 
the community would be made bankrupt by the ruin of their business, 
and by the violent and revolutionary changes of property which the 
process would create. The whole class of debtors, all that live 
more by industry than on capital, would be overwhelmed with 
undistinguishing destruction. 

There will then, sir, be no such thing as an exclusive paper cur- 
rency. The country will not be guilty of the folly of attempting it. 

I should have felt that I had occupied too much time with such a 
senseless and preposterous suggestion, were it not the manifest object 
of partisans to press such notions upon the attention of the people, in 
aid of the war against the banks. 



301 

We shall then, sir, have paper of some sort, forming a part of our 
currency. What w ill that paper be ? The honorable gentleman from 
South Carolina, admitting that paper is necessary as a part of the 
currency, or circulation, has contended that that paper ought to be 
Government paper — Government paper, not convertible nor re- 
deemable, only so far as by being receivable for debts and dues to 
Government. ]\Iy colleague has endeavored to satisfy the Senate, 
that the aim of the whole system, of which he regards this bill as 
but part, is to establish a circulation of Government paper and a 
Government bank. Other gentlemen have taken the same view of 
it. But, as the bill itself does not profess any such purpose, I am 
willing to discuss it in the character in which it presents itself. I 
take it for what its friends say it is — a bill making further provision 
for collecting the revenues. 

We are, then, sir, still to have paper as a general medium of cir- 
culation ; that paper is to be the paper of banks. But Government 
is to be divorced from these banks, altogether. It is not to keep 
its funds in them, as heretofore. It is to have nothing to do with 
them, is not to receive their notes, but is to collect and disburse its 
revenues by its own means and its own officers. 

The receipt of the notes of specie-paying banks is to be partially 
allowed for some time, but it is to be gradually discontinued ; and 
six years hence, we are to arrive at the maturity and the perfection 
of the system. When that auspicious day comes. Government is 
to receive and to pay out gold and silver, and nothing but gold and 
silver. 

Now, Mr. President, let us anticipate this joyous epoch ; let us 
suppose the six years to have expired ; and let us imagine this bill, 
with its specie payments and all, to be in full operation at the 
present hour. What will that operation be ? In the first place, 
disregarding all question of public convenience, or the general in- 
terests of the people, how ^\ ill this system work as a mere mode of 
collecting and paying out revenue ? Let us see. 

Our receipts and expenditures may be estimated, each, at thirty 
millions a year. Those who think this estimate either too high or 
too low, may make the necessary allowance. Here, then, is the 
sum of thirty millions, to be collected and paid out every year ; 
and it is all to be counted, actually told over, dollar after dollar, and 
gold piece after gold piece ; and how many times counted ? Let us 
inquire into that. The importing merchant, whose ship has arrived, 
and who has cash duties to pay, goes to the bank for his money, 
and the tellers count it out : that is once. He carries it to the 
custom-house, pays it, and the clerks count it over : that is twice. 
Some days afterwards, the collector takes it out of his bags and 
chests, carries it to the receiver-general's office, and there it is 
counted again, and poured into the bags and chests of that office : 

z 



302 

that is the third time. Presently a warrant comes from the Treas- 
ury, in favor of some disbursing officer, and the boxes are opened, 
and the necessary sums counted out : this is the fourth counting. 
And, fifthly and lastly, the disbursing officer pays it to the persons 
entitled to receive it, on contracts, or for pensions, salaries, or other 
claims. Thirty millions of hard money are thus to be handled and 
told over five times in the course of the year; and if there be 
transfers from place to place, then, of course, it is to be counted so 
much oftener. Government officers, therefore, are to count over 
one hundred and fifty millions of dollars a year ; which, allowing 
three hundred working days to the year, gives five hundred thousand 
dollars a day. But this is not all. Once a quarter, the naval 
officer is to count the collector's money, and the register in the land 
office is to count the receiver's money. And moreover, sir, every 
now and then the Secretary of the Treasury is to authorize unex- 
pected and impromptu countings, in his discretion, and just to satisfy 
his own mind ! 

Sir. what a money-counting, tinkling, jingling generation we shall 
be ! All the money-changers in Solomon's temple will be as nothing 
to us. Our sound will go forth unto all lands. We shall all be like 
the king in the ditty of the nursery : 

" There sat the king, a coanting of his money." 

You will observe, sir, that these receipts and payments cannot 
be made in parcels, without the actual handling of each piece of 
coin. The marks on kegs of dollars, and the labels on bags of gold, 
are not to be trusted. They are a part oi credit — and all credit^ 
all trust, all confidence, is to be done away with. When the sur- 
veyor, for instance, at the custom-house, is to examine the money 
on hand, in possession of the collector, or receiver-general, he is, of 
course, to count the money. No other examination can come to 
any thing. He cannot tell, from external appearance, nor from the 
weight, whether the collector has loaned out the money, and filled 
the bags and boxes up with sand and lead, or not. Nor can coun- 
terfeit pieces be otherwise detected than by actual handling. He 
must open, he must examine, he must count. And so at the land 
offices, the mints, and elsewhere. If these officers shall have a taste 
for silver sounds, they are all likely to be gratified. 

Mr. President, in all soberness, is not this whole operation pre- 
posterous ? 

It begins by proposing to Tceep the public moneys. This, itself, 
in the sense the word is here used, is a perfect novelty, especially 
in the United States. Why 'kee'p the public moneys ; that is to 
say, why hoard them, why keep them out of use ? The use of 
money is in the exchange. It is designed to circulate, not to be 
hoarded. All that Government should have to do with it, is to 



303 

receive It to-day, that it may pay it away to-morrow. It should 
not receive it before it needs it ; and it should part with it as soon 
as it owes it. To Tccep it — that is, to detain it, to hold it back Irom 
general use, to hoard it — is a conception belonging to barbarous times 
and barbarous Governments. How would it strike us, if we should 
see other great commercial nations acting upon such a system ? If 
England, with a revenue of fifty millions sterling a year, were found 
to be collecting and disbursing every shilling of it in hard money, 
through all the ramifications of her vast expenditure, should we 
not think her mad ? But the system is worse here, because it with- 
draws just so much active capital from the uses of a country that 
requires capital, and is paying interest for capital wherever it can 
obtain it. 

But now, sir, allow me to examine the operation of this measure 
upon the general interest of commerce, and upon the general cur- 
rency of the country. And in this point of view, the first great 
question is, What amount of gold and siher will this operation 
subtract from the circulation of the country, and from the v^e of the 
bank's 1 

In regard to this important inquiry., we are not without the means 
of forming some judgment. An official report from the Treasury, 
made to the other House, shows that, for the last ten years, there 
has been, at the end of each year, on an average, fifteen millions 
and four hundred thousand dollars in the Treasury. And this sum 
is exclusive of all that had been collected of the people, but had 
not yet reached the Treasury ; and also of all that had been drawn 
from the Treasury by disbursing officers, but which had not yet 
been by them paid to individuals. Adding these sums together, 
sir, and' the result is, that on an average for the last ten years, there 
have been at least twenty millions of dollars in the Treasury. I 
do not mean, of course, that this sum is, the whole of it, unappro- 
priated. I mean that this amount has in fact been in the Treasury, 
either not appropriated, or not called for under appropriations ; so 
that if this sub-treasury scheme had been in operation, in times past, 
of the specie in the currency, twenty millions would have been con- 
standy locked up in the safes and vaults. Now, sir, I do not be- 
lieve that, for these ten years, the whole amount of silver and gold 
in the country has exceeded, on the average, fifty or sixty millions. 
I do not believe it exceeds sixty millions at the present moment ; and 
if we had now the whole system in complete operation, it would 
lock up, and keep locked up, one full third of all the specie in the 
country. Locked up, I say — hoarded — rendered as useless, to 
all purposes of commerce and business, as if it were carried back to 
its native mines. Sir, is it not inconceivable that any man should 
fall upon such a scheme of policy as this ? Is it possible that any 
one can fail to see the destructive effects of such a policy on the 
commerce and the currency of the country ? 



304 

It is true, the system does not come into operation all at once. 
But it begins its demands for specie immediately ; it calls upon the 
banks, and it calls upon individuals, for their hard dollars, that they 
may be put away and locked up in the Treasury, at the very mo- 
ment when the country is suffering for ivant of more specie in the 
circulation, and the banks are suffering for means to enable them to 
resume their payments. And this, it is expected, will improve the 
currency, and facilitate resumption ! 

It has heretofore been asserted, that the general currency of the 
country needed to be strengthened by the introduction of more 
specie into the circulation. This has been insisted on for years. 
Let it be conceded. I have admitted it, and, indeed, contended 
for the proposition heretofore, and endeavored to prove it. But it 
must be plain to every body, that any addition of specie, in order 
to be useful, must either go into the circulation, as a part of that 
circulation, or else it must go into the banks, to enable them the 
better to sustain and redeem their paper. But this bill is calculated 
to promote neither of those ends, but exactly the reverse. It with- 
draws specie from the circulation and from the banks, and piles it 
up in useless heaps in the Treasury. It weakens the general cir- 
culation, by making the portion of specie, which is part of it, so 
much the less ; it weakens the banks, by reducing the amount of 
coin which supports their paper. The general evil imputed 
to our currency, for some years past, is, that paper has formed too 
great a portion of it. The operation of this measure must be to in- 
crease that very evil. I have admitted the evil, and have concurred 
in measures to remedy it. I have favored the withdrawing of small 
bills from circulation, to the end that specie might take their place. 
I discussed this policy, and supported it, as early as 1832. My 
colleague, who, shordy after that period, was placed in the chair of 
the chief magistracy of Massachusetts, pressed its consideration, at 
length, upon the attention of the Legislature of that State. I still 
think it was a right policy. Some of the States had begun to adopt 
it. But the measures of the Administration, and especially this 
proposed measure, throw this policy all aback. They undo at 
once all that we have been laboring. Such, and so pertinacious 
has been the demand of Government for specie, and such new de- 
mand does this bill promise to create, that the States have found 
themselves compelled again to issue small bills for the use of the 
people. It was a day of rejoicing, as we have lately seen, among 
the people of New York, when the Legislature of that State sus- 
pended the small-bill restraining law, and furnished the people with 
some medium for small payments, better than the miserable trash 
which now annoys the community. 

The Government, therefore, I insist, is evidently breaking down 
its own declared policy ; it is defeating, openly and manifestly de- 
feating, its own professed objects. 



305 

And yet, theory, imagination, presumptuous generalization, the 
application of military movements to questions of commerce and 
finance, and the abstractions of metaphysics, offer us, in such a state 
of things, their panacea. And what is it ? What is it? What is 
to cure or mitigate these evils, or what is to ward off future calam- 
ities ? Why, sir, the most agreeable remedy imaginable ; the kind- 
est, tenderest, most soothing, and solacing application in the whole 
world ! Nothing, sir, nothing upon earth, but a smart, delightful, 
perpetual, and irreconcilable warfare, between the Government of 
the Unhed States and the State banks ! All will be well, we 
are assured, when the Government and the banks become antag- 
onistical ! Yes, sir, " antagonistical ! " that is the word. What a 
stroke of policy, sir, is this ! It is as delicate a stratagem as poor 
old King Lear's, and a good deal like it. It proposes that we should 
tread lightly along, in felt or on velvet, till we get the banks within 
our power, and then, *' kill, kill, kill ! " 

Sir, we may talk as much as we please about the resumption of 
specie payments ; but I tell you that, with Government thus warring 
upon the banks, if resumption should take place, another suspension, 
I fear, would follow. It is not war, successful or unsuccessful, be- 
tween Government and the banks ; it is only peace, trust, confi- 
dence, that can restore the prosperity of the country. This system 
of perpetual annoyance to the banks, this hoarding up of money 
which the country demands for its own necessary uses, this bringing 
of the whole revenue to act, not in aid and furtherance, but in direct 
hinderance and embarrassment of commerce and business, is utterly 
irreconcilable with the public interest. We shall see no return of 
former times till it be abandoned — altogether abandoned. The 
passage of this bill will only create new alarm and new distress. 

People begin already to fear their own Government. They have 
an actual dread of those who should be their protectors and guar- 
dians. There are hundreds of thousands of honest and industrious 
men, sir, at this very moment, who would feel relieved in their cir- 
cumstances, who would see a better prospect of an honest livehhood, 
and feel more sure of the means of food and clothing for their wives 
and children, if they should hear that this measure had received its 
death. Let us, then, sir, away with it. Do we not see the world 
prosperous around us ? Do we not see other governments and other 
nations, enlightened by experience, and rejecting arrogant innova- 
tions and theoretic dreams, accomplishing the great ends of society ? 

Why, sir, why are we— why are we alone among the great com- 
mercial States ? Why are we to be kept on the rack and torture 
of these experiments? We have powers, adequate, complete 
powers. We need only to exercise them ; we need only to perform 
our constitutional duty, and we shall spread content, cheerfulness, 
and joy, over the whole land. 

VOL. III. 39 z 



306 

This brings me, sir, to the second inquiry. 

Is this measure, Mr. President, a just exercise of the powers of 
Congress, and does it fulfil all our duties ? 

Sir, I have so often discussed this pomt, 1 have so constantly m- 
sisted, for several years past, on the constitutional obligation of 
Congress to take care of the currency, that the Senate must be 
already tired of the speaker, if not weary of the topic ; and yet, 
after all, this is the great and paramount question. Until this is 
settled, the agitation can never be quieted. If we have not the 
power, we must leave the whole subject in the hands of those who 
have it. or in no hands ; but if we have the power, we are bound 
to exercise it, and every day's neglect is a violation of duty. I, 
therefore, again insist, that we have the power, and I again press its 
exercise on the two Houses of Congress. I again assert, tliat the 
regulation of the general currency — of the money of the country, 
whatever actually constitutes that money — is one of our solemn 
duties. 

The constitution confers on us, sir, the exclusive power of coin- 
age. This must have been done for the purpose of enabling Con- 
gress to establish one uniform basis for the whole money system. 
Congress, therefore, and Congress alone, has power over die foun- 
dation, the ground-work, of the currency ; and it would be strange 
and anomalous, having this, if it had nothing to do with the struc- 
ture, the edifice, to be raised on this foundation ! Convertible paper 
was already in circulation when the constitution was framed, and 
must have been expected to continue and to increase. But the 
circulation of paper tends to displace coin ; it may banish it alto- 
gether : at this very moment it has banished it. If, therefore, the 
power over the coin does not enable Congress to protect the coin, 
and to restrain any thing which would supersede it, and abolish its 
•use, the whole power becomes nugatory. If others may drive out 
the coin, and fill the country with paper which does not represent 
coin, of what use, I beg to know, is that exclusive power over coins 
and coinage which is given to Congress by the constitution ? 

Gentlemen on the other side admit that it is the tendency of 
paper circulation to expel the coin ; but then they say, that, for that 
very reason, they will withdraw from all connection with the gene- 
ral currency, and limit themselves to the single and narrow object 
of protecting the coin, and providing for payments to Government. 
This seems to me to be a very strange way of reasoning, and a 
very strange course of political conduct. The coinage-power was 
given to be used for the benefit of the whole country, and not merely 
to furnish a medium for the collection of revenue. The object 
was to secure, for the general use of the people, a sound and safe 
circulating medium. There can be no doubt of this intent. If 
any evil arises, threatening to destroy or endanger this medium or 



307 

this currency, our duty is to meet it, not to retreat from it ; to 
remedy it, not to let it alone ; we are to control and correct the 
mischief, not to submit to it. Wherever paper is to circulate, as 
subsidiary to coin, or as performing, in a greater or less degree, the 
function of coin, its regulation naturally belongs to the hands which 
hold the power over the coinage. This is an admitted maxim by 
all writers ; it has been admitted and acted upon, on all necessary 
occasions, by our own Government, throughout its whole history. 
Why will we now think ourselves wiser than all who have gone 
before us ? 

This conviction of what was the duty of Government led to the 
establishment of the bank in the administration of General Wash- 
ington. Mr. Madison, again, acted u))on the same conviction in 
1816, and Congress entirely agreed with him. On former occa- 
sions, I have referred the Senate, more than once, to the clear and 
emphatic opinions and language of Mr. Madison, in his messages 
in 1815 and 18 16, and they ought to be repeated, again and again, 
and pressed upon the public attention. 

And now let me say, sir, that no man in our history has carried 
the doctrine farther, defended it with more ability, or acted upon it 
with more decision and effect, than the honorable member from 
South Carolina. His speech upon the Bank bill, on the 26th of 
February, 1816, is strong, full, and conclusive. He has heretofore 
said that some part of what he said on that occasion does not ap- 
pear in the printed speech ; but, whatever may have been left out 
by accident, that which is in the speech could not have got in by 
accident. Such accidents do not happen. A close, well-conducted, 
and conclusive constitutional argument, is not the result of an acci- 
dent or of chance ; and his argument on that occasion, as it seems 
to me, was perfectly conclusive. Nor could the gentleman who 
reported the speech, a gentleman of talent though he is, have 
framed such an argument, during the time occupied in preparing 
the report for the press. As to what is actually in the speech, 
therefore, there can be no mistake. The honorable gentleman, in 
that speech, founds the right of regulating the paper currency 
directly on the coinage power. " The only object," he says, " the 
framers of the constitution could have in view, in giving to Con- 
gress the power to coin money, regulate the value thereof, and ot 
foieign coin, must have been to give a steadiness and fixed value 
to the currency of the United States." The state of things, he 
insisted, existing at the time of the adoption of the constitution, 
afforded an argument in support of the construction. There then 
existed, he said, a depreciated paper currency, which could only 
be regulated and made uniform by giving a power, for that purpose, 
to the General Government. 

He proceeded to say, that, by a sort of under-current, the power 
of Congress to regulate the money of the country had caved in, and 



308 

upon Its ruin had sprung up those institutions which now exercised 
the right of making money for and in the United States. " For 
gold and silver (he insisted) are not the only money ; but whatever 
is the medium of purchase and sale ; in which bank paper alone 
was now employed, and had, therefore, become the money of the 
country." " The right of making money," he added, "an attribute 
of sovereign power, a sacred and important right, was exercised by 
two hundred and sixty banks, scattered over every part of the 
United States." 

Certainly, sir, nothing can be clearer than this language ; and, 
acting vigorously upon principles thus plainly laid down, he con- 
ducted the Bank bill through the House of Representatives. On 
that occasion, he was the champion of the power of Congress over 
the currency; and others were willing to follow his lead. 

But the Bank bill was not all. The honorable gendeman went 
much farther. The bank, it was hoped and expected, would fur- 
nish a good paper currency to the extent of its own issues ; but 
there was a vast quantity of bad paper in circulation, and it was 
possible that the mere influence of the bank, and the refusal to re- 
ceive this bad money at the Treasury, might not, both, be able to 
banish it entirely from the country. The honorable member meant 
to make clean work. He meant that neither Govemment nor 
people should suffer the evils of irredeemable paper. Therefore, 
he brought in another bill, entitled " A bill for the more effectual 
collection of the public revenue." By the provisions of this bill, 
he proposed to lay a direct stamp tax on the bills of State banks ; 
and all notes of non-specie-paying banks were, by this stamp, to be 
branded with the following words, in distinct and legible characters, 
at leno-th — "not a specie note." For the tax laid on such 
notes, there was to be no composition, no commutation ; but it was 
to be specifically collected, on every single bill issued, until diose 
who issued such bills should announce to the Secretary of the 
Treasury, and prove to his satisfaction, that, after a day named in 
the bill, all their notes would be paid in specie on demand. 

And now, how is it possible, sir, for the author of such a measure 
as this, to stand up and declare, that the power of Congress over 
the currency is limited to the mere regulation of the coin ? So 
much for our authority, as it has heretofore been admitted and ac- 
knowledged, under the coinage power. 

Nor, sir, is the other source of power, in my opinion, at all more 
questionable. 

Congress has the supreme regulation of commerce. This gives 
it, necessarily, a superintendence over all the interests, agencies, 
and instruments of commerce. The words are general, and they 
confer the whole power. When the end is given, all the usual 
means are given. Money is the chief instrument or agent of com- 
merce ; there can, indeed, be no commerce without it, which 



309 

deserves the name. Congress must, therefore, regulate it as it reg- 
ulates other indispensable commercial interests. If no means were 
to be used to this end but such as are particularly enumerated, the 
whole authority would be nugatory, because no means are par- 
ticularly enumerated. We regulate ships ; their tonnage ; their 
measurement ; the shipping articles ; the medicine chest ; and vari- 
ous other things belonging to them ; and for all this we have no au- 
thority but the general power to regulate commerce ; none of these, 
or other means or modes of regulation, are particularly and expressly 
pointed out. 

But is a ship a more important instrument of commerce than 
money ? We protect a policy of insurance, because it is an impor- 
tant instrument of ordinary commercial contract; and our laws 
punish with death any master of a vessel, or others, who shall com- 
mit a fraud on the parties to this contract by casting away a 
vessel. For all this we have no express authority. We infer it 
from the general power of regulating commerce, and we exercise 
the power in this case, because a policy of insurance is one of the 
usual instruments, or means^ of commerce. But how inconsidera- 
ble and unimportant is a policy of insurance, as the means or an 
instrumentof commerce, compared with the whole circulating paper 
of a country ! 

Sir, the power is granted to us ; and granted without any 
specification of means ; and therefore we may lawfully exercise all 
the usual means. I need not particularize these means, nor state, 
at present, what they are or may be. One is, no doubt, a proper 
regulation of receipts at the custom-houses and land-offices. But 
this, of itself, is not enough. Another is a national bank, which, 
I fully believe, would, even now, answer all desired purposes, and 
reinstate the currency in ninety days. These, 1 think, are the 
means to be first tried ; and if, notwithstanding these, irredeemable 
paper should overwhelm us, others must be resorted to. We have 
no direct authority over State banks; but we have power over the 
currency, and we must protect it, using, of course, always, such 
means, if they be found adequate, as shall be most gentle and mild. 
The great measure, sir, is a bank ; because a bank is not only able 
to restrain tiie excessive issues of State banks, but it is able also 
to furnish for the country a currency of universal credit, and of 
uniform value. This is the grand desideratum. Until such a cur- 
rency is established, depend on it, sir, what is necessary for the 
prosperity of the country can never be accomphshed. 

On the question of power, sir, we have a very important and 
striking precedent. 

The members of the senate, Mr. President, will recollect the contro- 
versy between New York and her neighbor States, fifteen or sixteen 
years ago, upon the exclusive right of steam navigation. New York 
had granted an exclusive right of such navigation over her waters 



310 

to Mr. Fulton and his associates ; and declared by law that no vessel 
propelled by steam should navigate the North River or the Sound, 
without license from these grantees, under penalty of confiscation. 

To counteract this law, the Legislature of New Jersey enacted, 
that if any citizen of hers should be restrained, or injured, in person 
or property, by any party acting under the law of New York, such 
citizen should have remedy in her courts, if the offender could be 
caught within her territory, and should be entitled to treble damages 
and costs. New Jersey called this act a Inio of retortion ; and 
justified it on the general ground of reprisals. 

On the other side, Connecticut took fire, and as no steam-boat 
could come down the Sound from New York to Connecticut, or 
pass up from Connecticut to New York, without a New York li- 
cense, she enacted a law, by which heavy penalties were imposed 
upon all who should presume to come into her ports and harbors, 
having any such license. 

Here, sir, was a very harmonious state of commercial intercourse ! 
a very promising condition of things, indeed ! You could not get 
from New York to New Haven by steam ; nor could you go from 
New York to New Jersey, without transhipment in the bay. And 
•now, sir, let me remind the country, that this belligerent legislation 
of the States concerned was justified and defended, by exactly the 
same arguments as those which we have heard in this debate. 
Every thing which has been said here, to prove that the authority 
to regulate commerce does not include a power to regulate currency, 
was said in that case, to prove that the same authority did not in- 
clude an exclusive power over steam-boats or other means of navi- 
gation. I do not know a reason, a suggestion, an idea, which has 
been used in this debate, or which was used in the debate in Sep- 
tember, to show that Congress has no power to control the cur- 
rency of the country, and make it uniform, which was not used in 
this steam-boat controversy, to prove that the authority of this Gov- 
ernment did not reach the matter then in dispute. Look to the 
forensic discussions in New York ! Look to the argument^ in the 
court here ! You will find it every where urged that navigation 
does not come within the general idea of regulating commerce ; 
that steam-boats are but vehicles and instruments ; tliat the power 
of Congress is general, and general only ; and that it does not ex- 
tend to agents and instmments. 

And what, sir, put an end to this state of things ? What stopped 
these seizures and confiscations ? Nothing in the world, sir, but 
the exercise of the constitutional power of this Government. Noth- 
ing in the world, but the decision of the Supreme Court, that the 
power of Congress to regulate commerce was paramount ; that it 
overruled any interfering State laws ; and that these acts of the 
States did interfere with acts of Congress, enacted under its clear 
constitutional authority. 



311 

As to the extent of the power of regulating commerce, allow tne 
to quote a single sentence from the opinion of one of the learned 
judges of the Supreme Court, delivered on that occasion ; a judge 
always distinguished for the great care with which he guarded State 
rights : I mean Mr. Justice Johnson. And when I have read it, 
sir, then say, if it does not confirm every word and syllable which 
I have uttered on this subject, either now or at the September ses- 
sion. "In the advancement of society," said the judge, "labor, 
transportation, intelligence, care, and various means of exchange, 
become commodities, and enter into commerce ; ajid the subject, 
the vehicle, the agent, ond these various operations, become the 
objects of commercial regulation^ 

These just sentiments prevailed. The decision of the Court 
quieted the dangerous controversy ; and satisfied, and I will add 
gratified, most highly gratified, the whole country. 

Sir. may we not perceive at the present moment, without being 
suspected of looking with eyes whose sight is sharpened by too 
much apprehension — may we not perceive, sir, in what is now 
passing around us, the possible beginnings of another controversy 
between States, which may be of still greater moment, and followed, 
unless arrested, by still more deplorable consequences? Do we see 
no danger, no disturbance, no contests ahead ? Sir, do we not be- 
hold excited commercial rivalship, evidently existing between great 
States and great cities ? Do we not see an emulous competition for 
trade, external and internal ? Do we not see the parties concerned 
enlarging, and proposing to enlarge, to a vast extent, their plans of 
currency, evidently in connection with these objects of trade and 
commerce ? Do we not see States themselves becoming deeply 
interested in great banking institutions ? Do we not know that, 
already, the notes and bills of some States are prohibited by law 
from circulating in others ? 

Sir, I will push these questions no farther: but I tell you that 
it was for exactly such a crisis as this — for this very crisis — for 
this identical exigency now upon us — that this constitution was 
framed, and this Government established. And, sir, let those who 
expect to get over this crisis without effort and without action, let 
those whose hope it is that they may be borne along on the 
tide of circumstances and favorable occurrences, and who repose in 
the denial of their own powers and their own responsibility — let 
all such look well to the end. 

For one, I intend to clear myself from all blame. I intend, this 
day, to free myself of the responsibility of consequences, by warn- 
ing you of the danger into which you are conducting our public 
affairs, by urging and entreating you, as I do now urge and entreat 
you, by invoking you, as I do invoke you, by your love of country, 
and your fidelity to the constitution, to abandon all untried expe- 



312 

dlents ; to put no trust In ingenuity and contrivance ; to have done 
with projects which alarm and agitate the people ; to seek no shel- 
ter from obligation and duty ; but with manliness, directness, and 
true wisdonij^'to apply to the evils of the times their proper remedy. 
That Providence may guide the counsels of the country to this end, 
before even greater disasters and calamities overtake us, is my most 
fervent prayer ! 

Mr. President, on the subject of the power of Congress, as well 
as on other important topics connected with the bill, the honorable 
gentleman from South Carolina has advanced opinions of which I 
feel bound to take some notice. 

That honorable gentleman, in his recent speech, attempted to ex- 
hibit a contrast between the course of conduct which I, and other 
gentleman who act with me, at present pursue, and that which we 
have heretofore followed. In presenting this contrast, he said, he 
intended nothing personal ; his only object was truth. To this I 
could not object. The occasion requires, sir, that I should 
now examine his opinions ; and I can truly say, with him, that I 
mean nothing personally injurious, and that my object, also, is truth, 
and nothing else. Here I might stop ; but I will even say some- 
thing more. 

It is now five and twenty years, sir, since I became acquainted 
with the honorable gentleman, in the House of Representatives, in 
which he had held a seat, I think, about a year and a half before 
I entered it. From that period, sir, down to the year 1824, 1 can 
say, with great sincerity, there was not, among my political con- 
temporaries, any man for whom 1 entertained a higher respect, or 
warmer esteem. When we first met, we \\ere both young men. I 
beheld in him a generous character, a liberal and comprehensive 
mind, engrossed by great objects, distinguished talent, and, particu- 
larly, great originality and vigor of thought. That he was am- 
bitious, I did not doubt ; but that there was any thing in his am- 
bition low or sordid, any thing approaching to a love of the mere 
loaves and fishes of office, 1 did not then believe, and do not now 
believe. If, from that moment down to the time I have already 
mentioned, I differed with him on any great constitutional question, 
I do not know it. 

But, in 1824, events well known to the Senate separated us ; and 
that separation remained, wide and broad, until the end of the 
memorable session which terminated in March, 1833. With the 
events of diat session, our occasions of difference had ceased ; cer- 
tainly for the time, and, as I sincerely hoped, forever. Before the 
next meeting of Congress, the public deposits had been removed 
from their lawful custody by the President. Respecting this exer- 
cise of the Executive power, the honorable gentleman and myself 
entertained the same opinions ; and, in regard to subsequent trans- 



313 

actions connected with that, and growing out of It, there was not, 
so far as I know, any difference of sentiment between us. We 
looked upon all these proceedings but as so many efforts to give to 
the Executive an unconstitutional control over the public moneys. 
We thought we saw, every where, proofs of a design to extend 
Executive authority, not only in derogation of the just powers of 
Congress, but to the danger of the public liberty. We acted to- 
gether, to check these designs, and to arrest the march of Execu- 
tive prerogative and dominion. In all this, we were but coopera- 
ting with many other gentlemen here, and with a large and intelli- 
gent portion of the whole country. 

The unfortunate results of these Executive interferences with the 
currency had made an impression on the public mind. A revolu- 
tion seemed in progress, and the people were coming in their 
strength, as we began to think, to support us and our principles. 

In this state of things, sir, we met here at the commencement of 
the September session ; but we met, not as we had done ; we met, 
not as we had parted. The events of May, the policy of the Presi- 
dent in reference to those events, the doctrines of the message of 
September, the principles and opinions which the honorable 
gentleman, both to my surprise and to my infinite regret, came for- 
ward then to support, rendered it quite impossible for us to act to- 
gether, for a single moment longer. To the leading doctrines of 
that message, and to the policy which it recommended, 1 felt, and 
still feel, a deep, conscientious, and irreconcilable opposition. The 
honorable gentleman supported, and still supports, both. Here, 
then, we part. On these questions of constitutional power and duty, 
and on these momentous questions of national policy, we separate. 
And so broad and ample is the space which divides us, and so deep 
does the division run, touching even the very foundations of the 
Government, that, considering the time of life to which we both 
have arrived, it is not probable that we are to meet again. I say this 
with unfeigned and deep regret. Believe me, sir, I would most 
gladly act with the honorable gentleman. If he would but come 
back, now, to what I consider his former principles and sentiments; 
if he would place himself on those constitutional doctrines which 
he has sustained through a long series of years ; and if, thus stand- 
ing, he would exert his acknowledged ability to restore the pros- 
jierity of the country, and put an end to the mischiefs of reckless 
experiments and dangerous innovation, — 1 would not only will- 
ingly act with him, I would act under him; I would follow him, I 
would support him, I would back him, at every step, to the utmost 
of my power and ability. Such is not to be our destiny. That 
destiny is, that we here part : and all I can say further is, that he 
carries with him the same feeling of personal kindness on my part, 
the same hearty good-will which have heretofore inspired me. 

VOL. III. 40 A A 



314 

There have been three principal occasions, sir, on which the 
honorable gentleman has expressed his opinions upon the questions 
now under discussion. They are, his speech of the 15th Septem- 
ber, his published letter of the 3d November, and his leading speech 
at the present session. These productions are all marked with his 
characteristic ability ; they are ingenious, able, condensed, and 
striking. They deserve an answer. To some of the observations 
in the speech of September, I made a reply on the day of its de- 
livery ; there are other parts of it, however, which require a more 
deliberate examination. 

Mr. President, the honorable gentleman declares in that speech, 
" that he belongs to the State Rights party ; that that party, from 
the beginning of the Government, has been opposed to a national 
bank as unconstitutional, inexpedient, and dangerous; that it has 
ever dreaded the union of the political and moneyed power, and the 
central action of the Government, to which it so strongly tends ; 
that the connection of the Government with the banks, whether it 
be with a combination of State banks, or with a national institution, 
will necessarily centralize the action of the system at the principal 
point of collection and disbursement, and at which the mother bank, 
or the head of the league of State banks, must be located. From 
that point, the whole system, through the connection with the Gov- 
ernment, will be enabled to control the exchanges both at home 
and abroad, and, with it, the commerce, foreign and domestic, in- 
cluding exports and imports." 

Now, sir, this connection between Government and the banks, 
to which he imputes such mischievous consequences, he describes 
to be " the receiving and paying away their notes as cash ; and the 
use of the public money, from the time of the collection to the 
disbursement." 

Sir, if I clearly comprehend the honorable gentleman, he means 
no more, after all, than this ; that, while the public revenues are 
collected, as heretofore, through the banks, they will lie in the banks 
between the time of collection and the time of disbursement ; that, 
during that period, they will be regarded as one part of the mean? 
of business and of discount possessed by the banks ; and that, as a 
greater portion of the revenue is collected in large cities than in 
small ones, these large cities will, of course, derive greater benefit 
than the small ones from these deposits in the banks. In other words, 
that, as the importing merchants in a great city pay more duties to 
Government than those in a small one, so they enjoy a correspond- 
ing advantage to be derived from any use which the banks may 
make of these moneys, while on deposit with them. Now, sir, I 
would be very glad to know, supposing all this to be true, what there 
is in it either unequal or unjust. The benefit is exactly in propor- 
tion to the amount of business, and to the sums paid. If individu- 



315 

als in large cities enjoy the incidental use of more money, it is simply 
because they pay more money. It is like the case of credit on duty 
bonds. Whoever imports goods with the benefit of giving .bond 
for duties, instead of making present payment, enjoys a certain 
benefit ; and this benefit, in a direct sense, is in proportion to the 
amount of goods imported — the large importer having credit for 
a large sum, the small importer having credit for a smaller Sum. 
But the advantage, the benefit, or the indulgence, or whatever we 
call it, is, nevertheless, entirely equal and impartial. 

How then does the collection of revenue through the banks 
^' centralize " the action of the commercial system ? It seems to 
me, sir, the cause is mistaken for the effect. The greatest amount 
of revenue is collected in the greatest city, because it is already 
the greatest city ; because its local advantages, its jDopulation, its 
capital and enterprise, draw business towards it, constitute it a 
central point in commercial operations, and have made it the great- 
est city. It is the centralization of commerce by these just and 
proper causes — causes which must always exist in every country 
— which produces a large collection of revenue in the favored spot. 
The amount of capital is one very important cause, no doubt ; and 
leaving public moneys in the banks till wanted, allows to merchants, 
in places of large import, a degree of incidental benefit, in just pro- 
portion to the amount of capital by them employed in trade, and 
no more. 

I suppose, sir, it is the natural course of things, in every com- 
mercial country, that some place, or a few places, should go 
ahead of others in commercial importance. This must ever be so, 
until all places possess precisely equal natural advantages. And 
I suppose, too, that, instead of being mischievous, it is rather for the 
common good of all, that there should be some commercial empo- 
rium, some central point, for the exchanges of trade. Government, 
certainly, should not seek to produce this result by the bestowal of 
unequal privileges ; but surely, sir, it would be a very strange and 
indefensible policy which should lead the Government to withhold 
any portion of the capital of the country from useful employment, 
merely because that, if employed, while all enjoyed the benefit 
proportionately, all would not enjoy it with the same absolute 
n)atheniatical equality. 

So much, sir, for concentration, arising from depositing the reve- 
nues in banks. Let us now look to the other part of the connec- 
tion, viz. the receiving of bank notes for duties. How in the world 
does this '" centralize " the commercial system ? The whole ten- 
dency and effect, as it seems to me, is directly the other way. 
It counteracts centralization. It gives all possible advantage to 
local currency and local payments, and thereby encourages both 
imports and exports. It makes local money good every where. If 



316 

goods be Imported into Charleston, the duties are paid in Charleston 
notes. New York notes are not demanded. Nothing, certainly, 
can be fairer or more equal than this, and nothing more favorable to 
the Charleston importers. 

But how would that system work, which the gentleman himself 

proposes ? 

If his plan could prevail, he would have the duties collected 
either in specie, or in a Government paper to be issued from the 
Treasury. He would reject all banknotes whatever. If the gen- 
tleman, sir, fears centralization, I am astonished that he does not see 
centralization in all its terrors in diis very proposition of his own. 
Pray allow me to ask, sir, Where will this Government paper, in 
the course of its issue and circulation, naturally centre? To what 
points will it tend ? Certainly, most certainly, to the greatest points 
of collection and expenditure ; to the very heart of the metropolitan 
city, wherever that city may be. This is as inevitable as the fall 
of water or the results of attraction. If two thirds of the duties be 
collected in New York, it will follow of course, that two thirds of 
any Government paper received for duties will be there received ; 
and it will be more valuable there than elsewhere. The value of 
such paper would consist in its receivability, and nothing else. It 
would always tend, therefore, directly to the spot where the greatest 
demand should exist for it for that purpose. Is it not so at this 
moment with the outstanding Treasury notes ? Are they abundant 
in Georgia, in Mississippi, in Illinois, or in New Hampshire ? No 
sooner issued, than they commence dieir march toward the place 
where they are most valued and most in demand ; that is, to the 
place of the greatest public receipt. If you want concentration, sir, 
and enough of it — if you desire to dry up the small streams of com- 
merce, and fill more full the deep and already swollen great chan- 
nels — you will act very wisely to that end, if you keep out of the 
receipt of the Treasury all money but such paper as the Govern- 
ment may furnish, and which shall be no otherwise redeemable than 
in receipt for debts to Government, while at the same time you de- 
press the character of the local circulation. 

Such is the scheme of the honorable member in its probable com- 
mercial effect. Let us look at it in a political point of view. 

The honorable member says he belongs to the State-rights party ; 
that party professes something of an uncommon love of liberty ; an 
extraordinary sensibility to all its dangers ; and of those dangers, it 
most dreads the union of the political and money power. This we 
learn from the authentic declaration of the gentleman himself. And 
now, oh, transcendent consistency ! oh, most wonderful conformity 
of means and ends ! oh, exquisite mode of gratifying high desires ! 
behold, the honorable member proposes that the political power of 
the State shall take to itself the whole function of supplying the en- 



317 

tire paper circulation of the country, by notes or bills of its own, 
issued at its own discretion, to be paid out or advanced to whom- 
soever it pleases, in discharging the obligations of Government, bear- 
hig no promise to pay, and to be kept in circulation merely by 
being made receivable at the Treasury ! The whole circulation of 
the country, excepting only that which is metallic, and which must 
always be small, will thus be made up of mere Government paper, 
issued for Government purposes, and redeemable only in payment 
of Government debts. In other words, the entire means of carry- 
ing on the whole commerce of the country will be held by Govern- 
ment in its own hands, and made commensurate, exactly, with its 
own wants, purposes, and opinions ; the whole commercial business 
of the country being thus made a mere appendage to revenu% 

But, sir, in order that I may not misrepresent the honorable mem- 
ber, let me show you a litde more distinctly what his opinions are 
respecting this Government paper. 

Tlie honorable member says, sir, that to make this Sub-Treasury 
measure successful, and to secure it against reaction, some safe and 
stable medium of circulation, " to take the place of bank notes in 
the fiscal operations of the Government, ought to be issued ; " that, 
" in the present condition of the world, a paper currency, in some 
form, if not necessary, is almost indispensable, in financial and com- 
mercial operations of civilized and extensive communities ; " that 
^'the great desideratum is to ascertain what description of paper 
has the requisite qualities of being free from fluctuation in value, 
and liability to abuse in the greatest perfection ; " that "bank notes 
do not possess these requisites in a degree sufficiently high for this 
purpose." And then he says, " I go farther. It appears to me, 
after bestowing the best reflection I can give the subject, that no 
convertible paper, that is, no paper whose credit rests upon a prom- 
ise to pay, is suitable for currency." "On what, then, (he asks,) 
ought a paper currency to rest ? " "I would say," he answers, 
" on demand and supply simply ; which regulate the value of every 
thing else — the constant demand which Government has for its 
necessary supplies." He then proceeds to observe, " that there 
might be a sound and safe paper currency, founded on the credit 
of Government exclusively ;" "that such paper, only to be issued 
to those who had claims on the Government, would, in its habitual 
state, be at or above par with gold and silver ; " that " nothing 
but experience can determine what amount, and of what denomina- 
tions, might be safely issued ; but that it might be safely assumed 
that the country would absorb an amount greatly exceeding its an- 
nual income. Much of its exchanges, which amount to a vast sum, 
as well as its banking business, would revolve about it ; and many 
millions would thus be kept in circulation beyond the demands of 
the Government." 



318 

By this scheme, sir, Government, in its disbursements, is not to 
pay money, but to issue paper. This paper is no otherwise paya- 
ble or redeemable than as it may be received at the Treasury. It 
is expected to be let out much faster than it comes in, so that many 
millions will be kept in circulation ; and its habitual character will 
be at or above par with gold and silver ! Now, sir, if there is to be 
found any where a more plain and obvious project of paper money, 
in all its deformity, I should not know where to look for it. 

In the first place, sir, I have suggested the complete union which 
It would form, if it were, in itself, practicable, between the political 
and the money power. 

The whole commerce of the country, indeed, under such a state 
of law, would be little more than a sort of incident to Treasury 
operations — rather a collateral emanation of the revenue system 
than a substantial and important branch of the public interest. I 
have referred, also, to its probable consequences upon that which 
the gentleman regards as so great an evil, and which he denomi- 
nates " the centralization of commercial action." 

And now I pray you to consider, Mr. President, in the next 
place, what an admirable contrivance this would be to secure that 
economy in the expenses of Government which the gentleman has 
so much at heart. Released from all necessity of taxation, and 
from the consequent responsibility to the people ; not called upon 
to regard at all the amount of annual income ; having an authority 
to cause Treasury notes to issue whenever it pleases. 

" In multitudes, like which the populous North 
Poured never from her frozen loins, to pass 
Rhene, or the Danau ; " 

what admirable restraint would be imposed on Government, how 
doubly sure would assurance be made for it, that all its expenditures 
would be strictly limited to the absolute and indispensable wants 
and demands of the public service ! 

But, sir, fortunately, very fortunately, a scheme so wild, and 
which would be so mischievous, is totally impracticable. It rests 
on an assumption for which there is not the least foundation, either 
in reason or experience. It takes for granted that which the histoiy 
of every commercial state refutes, and our own, especially, in almost 
every page. It supposes that irredeemable Government paper can 
circulate in the business of society, and be kept at par. This is an 
impossibility. The honorable gentleman rejects convertible bank 
notes, which are equivalent to specie, since they will always com- 
mand it, and adopts, in their stead, Government paper, with no 
.promise to pay, but a promise only to be received for debts and 
taxes ; and he puts forth the imagination, as I have said, so often 
and so long refuted, that this paper will be kept in circulation in the 



319 

country, and will be able to perform the great business of currency 
and exchange, even though it exist in quantities exceeding, by many 
millions, the demands of Government. 

If it be necessary, sir, at this day, to refute ideas like these, it 
must be because the history of all countries, our own included, 
is a dead letter to us. Even at the very moment in which I am 
speaking, the small amount of Treasury notes which has been 
issued by Government, hardly a fifth part of the ordinary annual 
revenue — though those notes bear an interest of five per cent. — 
though they are redeemable in cash at the Treasury, at the expira- 
tion of the year — and though, in the mean time, they are every 
where received in Government dues, are not only of less value 
than specie, but of less value, also, than the notes of non-specie- 
paying banks ; those banks whose paper is daily denounced here 
as '• rags, filthy rags." In my opinion, sir, the whole scheme is as 
visionary and impracticable as any which the genius of project ever 
produced. 

jNIr. President, toward the close of this speech of September, I 
find a paragraph in which several other subjects are brought to- 
gether, and which I must ask permission to read. 

Having commended the wise and noble bearing of the little State- 
rights party, of which he says it is his pride to be a member 
throughout the eventful period through which the country has 
passed since 1824, he adds : 

" In that year, as I have stated, the tariff system triumphed in 
the councils of the nation. We saw its disastrous political bearings ; 
foresaw its surpluses, and the extravagances to which it would 
lead ; we rallied on the election of the late President to arrest it 
through the influence of the executive department of the Govern- 
ment. In this we failed. We then fell back upon the rights and 
sovereignty of the States ; and, by the action of a small but gallant 
State, and through the potency of its interposition, we brought the 
system to the ground, sustained, as it was, by the opposition and the 
administration, and by the whole power and patronage of the Gov- 
ernment." 

Every part of this most extraordinary statement well deserves 
attention. 

In the first place, sir, here is an open and direct avowal that the 
main object for rallying on General Jackson's first election, was to 
accomplish the overthrow of the protecting policy of the country. 
Indeed ! Well, this is very frank. I am glad to hear the avowal 
made. It puts an end to all suspicions. 

It was, then, to overthrow protection, was it, that the honorable 
gentleman took so much pains to secure General Jackson's first 
election ? I commend his candor in now acknowledging it. But, 
sir, the honorable member had allies and associates in that rally ; 



320 

they thronged round him from all quarters, and zealously followed 
his lead. And pray, sir, was his object, as now avowed by himself, 
the joint object of all the party ? Did he tell Pennsylvania, honest, 
intelligent, straight-forward Pennsylvania, that such was his purpose ? 
And did Pennsylvania concur in it ? Pennsylvania was first and 
foremost in espousing the cause of General Jackson. Every body 
knows she is more of a tariff State than any other in the Union. 
Did he tell her that his purpose was to break tlie tariif entirely 
down ? Did he state his objects, also, to New York ? Did he 
state them to New Jersey? What say you, gentlemen from Penn- 
sylvania ? gentlemen from New York ? and gentlemen from New 
Jersey ? Ye who supported General Jackson's election, what say 
you? Was it your purpose^ also, by that election, to break down 
the protective policy ? Or, if it were not your purpose, did you 
know, nevertheless — pray let us understand that — did you know, 
nevertheless, that it ivas the purpose, and the main purpose, of the 
honorable member from Carolina? and did you, still, cooperate 
with him ? 

The present Chief Magistrate of the country was a member of this 
body in 18-28. He and the honorable member from Carolina were, at 
that time, exerting their united forces, to the utmost, in order to bring 
about General Jackson's election. Did they work thus zealously to- 
gether, for the same ultimate end and purpose; or did they mean 
merely to change the Government, and then each to look out for 
himself? 

Mr. Van Buren voted for the tariff bill of that year, commonly 
called the "bill of abominations;" but, very luckily, and in ex- 
tremely good season, instruclions for tlKit vole happened to come 
from Albany! The vote, therefore, could be given, and the mem- 
ber giving it could not possibly thereby give any offence to any 
gentleman of the State-rights party, with whom the doctrine of in- 
structions is so authentic. 

Sir, I will not do gentlemen injustice. Those who belonged to 
tariff States, as they are called, and who supported General Jack- 
son for the Presidency, did not intend thereby to overthrow the 
protecting policy. They only meant to make General Jackson 
President, and to come into power along with him ! As to ulti- 
mate objects, each had his own. All could agree, however, in the 
first step. It was difficult, certainly, to give a plausible appear- 
ance to a political union, among gendemen who differed so widely 
on the great and leading question of the times — the question of 
the protecting policy. But this difficulty was overcome by the 
oracular declaration that General Jackson was in favor of a " Ju- 
dicious Tariff." 

Here, sir, was ample room and verge enough. Who could ob- 
ject to a judicious tariff 1 Tariff men and Anti-tariff men, State- 



321 

rights men and Consolidationlsts, tliosc who had been called prodi- 
gals, and those who had been called radicals, all thronged and 
flocked together here, and with all their difference in regard to ul- 
timate objects, agreed to make common cause, till they should get 
into power. 

The irhosts, sir, which are fabled to cross the Styx, whatever 

O'^ .••II** 

different hopes or purposes they may have beyond it, still unite, in 
the present wish to get over, and therefore all hurry and huddle in- 
to the leaky and shattered craft of Charon, the ferryman. And 
this motley throng of politicians, sir, with as much difference of final 
object, and as little care for each other, made a boat of " Judicious 
Tariff," and all rushed and scrambled into it, until they filled it, 
near to sinking. The authority of the master was able, however, 
to keep them peaceable and in order, for the time, for they had the 
virtue of submission, and though with occasional dangers of upset- 
ting, he succeeded in pushing them all over with his long setting- 
pole. 

"Ipse ratem conto subigit." 

Well, sir, the honorable gentleman tells us that he expected, when 
General Jackson should be elected, to arrest the tariff system 
through the injimnce of the Executive Department. Here is an- 
other candid confession. Arrest the tariff by Executive influence ! 
Indeed ! Why, sir, this seems like hoping, from the first, for the 
use of the Veto. How, but by the Veto, could the Executive 
arrest the tariff acts ? And is it true, sir, that, at that early day, 
the honorable member was looking to the Veto, not with dread, 
but with hope ? Did he expect it, and did he rely upon it ? Did 
he make the rally of which he speaks, in order that he might 
choose a President who would exercise it? And did he after- 
wards complain of it, or does he complain of it now, only because 
it was ill directed — because it turned out to be a thunderbolt, 
which did not foil in the right place? 

In this rehance on Executive influence — sir, I declare I hardly 
can trust myself that I read or quote correctly, when I find, in what 
I read, or from what I quote, the honorable member from South 
Carolina, by his own confession, hoping or expecting to accomplish 
any thing by Executive influence ; yet so was it spoken, and so is it 
printed — in this reliance, or this hope, or expectation, founded on 
Executive influence, the honorable gentleman and his friends failed; 
and, failing in this, he says, they fell back on the sovereignty of the 
States, and brought the system to the ground " through the potency 
of interposition ; " by which he means neither more nor less than 
Nullification. So then, sir, according to this, that excessive fear of 
power which was so much cherished by the NuUifiers, was only 
awakened to a flame in their bosoms, when they found that they 
VOL. III. 41 



322 

could not accomplish their own ends by the Executive power of 
the President. 

I am no authorized commentator, sir, on the doctrines or theo- 
ries of Nullification. Non nostrum. But, if this exposition be 
authentic, I must say it is not calculated to diminish my opposition 
to the sentiments of that school. 

But the gentleman goes on to teU us that nullification, or inter- 
position, succeeded. By means of it, he says, he did bring the 
protective system to the ground. And so, in his published letter 
of November 3d, he states that " State interposition has over- 
thrown the protective tariff, and, with it, the American system." 

We are to understand, then, sir, first, that the compromise act 
of 1833 was forced upon Congress by State interposition, or 
nullification. 

Next, that its object and design, so far as the honorable gentle- 
man was concerned in it, was to break down and destroy, forever, 
the whole protective policy of the country. 

And lastly, that it has accomplished that purpose, and that the 
last vestige of that policy is wearing away. 

Now, sir, I must sfty, that, in 1833, I entertained no doubt at 
all that the design of the gentleman was exactly what he now 
states. On this point, I have not been deceived. It was not, cer- 
tainly, the design of all who acted with him ; but that it was his pur- 
pose, I knew then, as clearly as I know now, after his open avowal 
of it ; and this belief governed my conduct at the time, together 
with that of a great majority of those in both Houses of Congress, 
who, after the act of 1824, felt bound to carry out the provisions 
of that act, and to maintain them reasonably and fairly. I op- 
posed the compromise act with all my power. It appeared to me 
every way objectionable : it looked like an attempt to make a new 
constitution ; to introduce another fundamental law, above the 
power of Congress, and which should control the authority and 
discretion of Congress, in all time to come. This, of itself, was 
a conclusive objection with me; I said so then, have often said so 
since, and say so now. I said, then, that I, for one, shoukl not be 
bound by that law more than by any other law, except that, as it 
was a law passed on a very important and agitating subject, I 
should not be disposed to interfere v»'ith it, until a case of clear 
necessity should arise. On this principle I have acted since. 
When that case of necessity shall arise, however, should I be in 
public life, I shall concur in any alteration of that act which 
such necessity may require. That such an occasion may come, 
I more than fear. I entertain somethino; stronger than a doubt 
upon the possibility of maintaining the manufactures and industry 
of this country, upon such a system as the compromise act will 
leave us, when it shall have gone through its processes of reduc- 
tion. All this, however, I leave to the future. 



S23 

Having had occasion, Mr. President, to speak of Nullification and 
the Nullificrs, I beg leave to say that I have not done so for any 
purpose of reproach. Certainly, sir, I see no possible connection, 
myself, between their principles or opinions, and the support of this 
measure. They, however, must speak for themselves. They may 
have intrusted the bearing of their standard, for aught I know, to 
the hands of the honorable member from South Carolina ; and I 
perceived last session, what I perceive now, that in his opinion 
there is a connection between these projects of Government and 
the doctrines of Nullification. I can only say, sir, that it will be 
marvellous to me, if that banner, though it be said to be tattered 
and torn, shall yet be lowered in obeisance, and laid at the footstool 
of Executive power. To the sustaining of that power, the passage 
of this bill is of the utmost importance. The Administration will 
regard its success as being to them, what Cromwell said the battle 
of Worcester was to him — " a crowning mercy." Whether gen- 
tlemen who have distinguished themselves so much by their extreme 
jealousy of this Government, shall now find it consistent with their 
principles to give their aid in accomplishing this consummation^ 
remains to be seen. 

The next exposition ofthe honorable gentleman's sentiments and 
opinions, is his letter of November 3d. 

This letter, sir, is a curiosity. As a paper describing political 
operations, and exhibiting political opinions, it is without a parallel. 
Its phrase is altogether military. It reads like a despatch, or a 
bulletin from head-quarters. It is full of attacks, assaults, and 
repulses. It recounts movements and counter-movements ; speaks 
of occupying one position, falling back upon another, and advan- 
cing to a third ; it has positions to cover enemies, and positions to 
hold allies in check. Meantime, the celerity of all these operations 
reminds one of the rapidity of the military actions of the king of 
Prussia, in the seven years' war. Yesterday, he was in the south, 
giving battle to the Austrian — to-day he is in Saxony, or Silesia ; 
instantly he is found to have traversed the electorate, and is facing 
the Russian and the Swede on his northern frontier. If you look 
for his place on the map, before you find it, he has quitted it. He 
is always marching, flying, falling back, wheeling, attacking, de- 
fending, surprising ; fighting every where, and fighting all the time. 
In one particular, however, the campaigns, described in this letter, 
differ from the manner in w hich those of the great Frederick were 
conducted. I think we no w hae read, in the narrative of Frede- 
rick's achievements, of his taking a position to cover an enemy, or 
a position to hold an ally in check. These refinements, in the 
science of tactics and of war, are of more recent discovery. 

Mr. President, public men must certainly be allowed to change 
their opinions, and their associations, whenever they see fit. No 



324 

one doubts this. Men may have grown wiser ; they may have 
attained to better and more correct views of great public subjects. 
It would be unfortunate, if there were any code which should 
oblige men, in public or private life, to adhere to opinions once en- 
tertained, in spite of experience and better knowledge, and against 
their own convictions of their erroneous character. Nevertheless, 
sir, it must be acknowledged, that what appears to be a sudden, as 
well as a great cliange, naturally produces a shock. I confess, for 
one, I was shocked, when the honorable gentleman, at the last 
session, espoused this bill of the Administration. And when I first 
read this letter of November, and, in the short space of a column 
and a half, ran through such a succession of political movements, 
all terminating in placing the honorable member in the ranks of 
our opponents, and entitling him to take his seat, as he has done, 
among them, if not at their head, I confess I felt still greater sur- 
prise. All this seemed a good deal too abrupt. Sudden move- 
ments of the affections, whether personal or political, are a little 
out of nature. 

Several years ago, sir, some of the wits of England wrote a mock 
play. Intended to ridicule the unnatural and false feeling, the scnti- 
mentality, of a certain German school of literature. In this play, 
two strangers are brought together at an inn. While they are 
warming themselves at the fire, and before their acquaintance is yet 
five minutes old, one springs up and exclaims to the other, " A 
sudden thought strikes me ! Let us swear an eternal friendship ! " 

This affectionate offer was instantly accepted, and the friendship 
duly sworn, unchangeable and eternal ! Now, sir, how long this 
eternal friendship lasted, or in what manner it ended, those who 
wish to know, may learn by referring to the play. 

But it seems to me, sir, that the honorable member has carried 
his political sentimentality a good deal higher than the flight of the 
German school ; for he appears to have fallen suddenly in love, 
not with strangers, but with opponents. 

Here we all had been, sir, contending against the progress of 
Executive power, and more particularly, and most strenuously, 
against the projects and experiments of the Administration upon 
the cun-ency. The honorable member stood among us, not only as 
an associate, but as a leader. We thought we were making some 
headway. The people appeared to be coming to our support and 
our assistance. The country had been roused ; every successive 
election weakening the strength of the adversary, and increasing our 
own. We were in this career of success carried strongly forward 
by the current of public opinion, and only needed to hear the cheer- 
ing voice of the honorable meniber, 

" Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more ! " 
and we should have prostrated, forever, this anti-constitutional, anti- 



325 

Commercial, anti-rcpubllcan, and anti-American policy of the Ad- 
ministration. But, instead of these encouraging and animating 
accents, behold ! in the very crisis of our affairs, on the very eve of 
victory, the iionorable member cries out — to the enemy — not to 
us, his allies — but to the enemy — " Holloa ! A sudden thought 
strikes me ! I abandon my allies ! Now I think of it, they have 
always been my oppressors ! I abandon them, and now let you 
Old me swear an eternal friendship ! " 

Such a projrosition, from such a quarter, sir, was not likely to be 
long withstood. The other party was a little coy, but, upon the 
whole, nothing loath. After proper hesitation, and a litde deco- 
rous blushing, it owned the soft impeachment, admitted an equally- 
sudden sympathetic impulse on its own side ; and, since few words 
are wanted where hearts are already known, the honorable gentleman 
takes his place among his new friends, amidst greetings and ca- 
resses, and is already enjoying the sweets of an eternal friendship. 

In this letter, Mr. President, the writer says, in substance, that lie 
saw, at the commencement of the last session, that affairs had 
readied the point, when he and his friends, according to the course 
they should take, would reap the full harvest of their long and 
arduous struggle, against the encroachments and abuses of the 
General Government, or lose the fruits of all their labors. 

At that time, he says. State interposition (viz. Nullification) had 
overthrown the protecting tariff and the American system, and put 
a stop to Congressional usurpation ; that he had previously been 
united with the National Republicans; and that their joint attacks 
had brought down the power of the Executive ; but that, in joining 
such allies, he was not insensible to the embarrassment of his posi- 
tion ; that, with them, victory itself was dangerous ; and that there- 
fore he had been waiting for events ; that now, (that is to say, in 
September last,) the joint attacks of the allies had brought down 
Executive power ; that the Administration had become divested of 
power and influence, and that it had become clear that the combined 
attacks of the allied forces would utterly overthrow and demolish 
it. All this he saw. But he saw, too, as he says, that in that case 
the victory would enure, not to him or his cause, but to his allies and 
their cause. I do not mean to say that he spoke of personal victories, 
or alluded to personal objects, at all. He spoke of his cause. 

He proceeds to say, tlien, that never was there before, and never, 
probably, will there be again, so fair an opportunity for himself and 
his friends to carry out their own principles and policy, and to reap 
the fruits of their long and arduous struggle. These principles and 
this policy, sir, be it remembered, he represents, all along, as identi- 
fied with the principles and policy of Nullification. And he makes 
use of this glorious opportunity, by refusing to join his late allies in 
any further attack on those in power, and rallying anew the old State- 

BB 



326 

rights party to hold in check their old opponents, the National 
Republican party. This, he says, would enable him to prevent the 
complete ascendency of his allies, and to compel the Southern di- 
vision of the Administration party to occupy the ground of which he 
proposes to take possession, to wit, the ground of the old State-rights 
party. They will have, he says, no other alternative. 

Mr. President, stripped of its military language, what is the 
amount of all this, but that, finding the Administration weak, and 
likely to be overthrown, if the opposition continued with undimin- 
ished force, he went over to it, to join it ; to act, himself, upon 
nullification principles ; and to compel the Southern members of 
the Administration to meet him on those principles ? — in other 
v/ords, to make a nullification Administration, and to take such part 
in it as should belong to him and his friends. He confesses, sir, 
that in thus abandoning his allies, and taking a position to cover 
those in power, he perceived a shock would be created, which would 
require some degree of resolution and firmness. In this he was 
right. A shock, sir, has been created ; yet there he is. 

This Administration, sir, is represented as succeeding to the last, 
by an inheritance of principle. It professes to tread in the foot- 
steps of its illustrious predecessor. It adopts, generally, the sen- 
timents, principles, and opinions, of General Jackson — Proclama- 
tion and all ; and yet, though he be the very prince of Nuilifiers, 
and but lately regarded as the chiefest of sinners, it receives 
the honorable gentleman with the utmost complacency : to all 
appearance the delight is mutual : they find him an able leader ; he 
finds them complying followers. But, sir, in all this movement, he 
understands himself. He means to go ahead, and to take them 
alono. He is in the engine-car : he controls the locomotive. His 
hand regulates the steam, to increase or retard speed, at his own 
discretion. And as to the occupants of the passenger-cars, sir, they 
are as happy a set of gentlemen as one might desire to see, of a 
summer's day. They feel that they are in progress ; they hope they 
shall not be run off the track ; and when they reach the end of 
their journey, they desire to be thankful ! 

The arduous struggle is now all over. Its richest fruits are all 
reaped ; Nullification embraces the Sub-Treasuries, and oppression 
and usurpation will be heard of no more. 

On the broad surface of the country, sir, there is a spot called " the 
Hermitage." In that residence is an occupant very well known, and 
not a little remarkable both in person and character. Suppose, sir, 
the occupant of the Hermitage were now to open that door, enter the 
Senate, walk forward, and look over the Chamber to the seats on the 
other side. Be not frightened, gentlemen ; it is but fancy's sketch. 
Suppose he should thus come in among us, sir, and see into whose 
hands has fallen the chief support of that Administration, which 



327 

was, in so great a degree, appointed by himself, and which he fondly 
relied on to maintain the principles of his own. If gentlemen were 
now to see his steady military step, his erect posture, his compressed 
lips, his firmly-knitted brow, and his eye full of fire, I cannot help 
thinking, sir, they would all feel somewhat queer. There w^ould be, 
I imagine, not a little awkw ard moving and shifting in their seats. 
They would expect soon to hear the roar of the lion, even if they 
did not feel his paw\ 

I proceed, sir, to the speech of the honorable member, delivered 
on the 15th of February last, in w hich he announces propositions, 
respecting the constitutional power of Congress, which, if they can 
be maintained, must necessarily give a new direction to our legis- 
lation, and would go far towards showing the necessity of the pres- 
ent bill. 

The honorable member, sir, insists that Congress has no riffht 
to make general deposits of the public revenue in banks ; and he 
denies, too, that it can authorize the reception of any thing but 
gold and silver in the payment of debts and dues to the Govern- 
ment. 

These questions, sir, are questions of magnitude, certainly, and, 
since they have been raised, ought to be answered. They may be 
considered together. Allow me, in the first place, however, to clear 
them from some extraneous matter. The honorable member puts 
the first question tlius : Have we the right to make deposits in the 
banks, in order to bestow confidence in them, with a view to ena- 
ble them to resume specie payments ? And, by way of illustration, 
asks the further question, whether Government could constitution- 
ally bestow on individuals, or a private association, the same advan- 
tages, in order to enable ihem to pay their debts. But this I take 
not to be the question. The true inquiry is, May not Congress 
authorize the public revenue, in the intervening time between its 
receipt and its expenditure, to be deposited in banks, for the gene- 
ral purpose of safe-keeping, in the same way as individuals de- 
posit their own money ? And if this mode of safe-keeping be at- 
tended with incidental advantages, of considerable importance to 
the community, is not that a reason which may properly govern 
the discretion of Congress in the case? To benefit the banks, or 
to benefit the community, is, in this case, not the main object ; it is 
only the incident ; and as to the case put for illustration, it would 
not be expected of Congress, certainly, to make deposits with in- 
dividuals with a view, principally, of enabling such individuals to 
pay their debts; it might, nevertheless, be very competent to Con- 
gress, in some cases, and a very proper exercise of its power, to 
deposit money, even with individuals, in such manner as that it 
might be advantageous to the depositary. This incidental or con- 
sequential advantage results, often, from the nature of the transac- 



328 

tion, and Is inseparable from it. It may always be enjoyed, more 
or less, by any one who holds public money for disbursement. In 
order to the necessary exercise of any of its powers. Government 
doubtless may make contracts with banks or other corporations as 
well as with individuals. If it has occasion to buy bills of exchange, 
it may buy them of banks. If it has stock or Treasury notes to 
sell, it may sell to banks, as the Secretary of the Treasury has 
lately proposed. It may employ banks, therefore, at its discretion, 
for the keeping of the public moneys, as those moneys must be 
kept somewhere. It can no more need a specific grant of power 
in the constitution for such a purpose, than one merchant, becom- 
ing agent for another to receive and pay out money, would need a 
particular clause in his authority, enabling him to use banks for 
these purposes as other persons use them. No question has ever 
been raised in this Government about the power of Congress to 
authorize such deposits. Mr. Madison, in opposing the first bank 
charter in 1791, argued, strenuously, that a Bank of the United 
States was not necessary to Government as a depository of the 
public moneys, because, he insisted, its use could be supplied by 
other banks. This sufficiently shows his opinion. And in 1800, 
Congress made it the duty of the collectors of customs to deposit 
bonds for duties in the bank and its branches for collection. 

When the charter of the first bank expired, in 1811, almost 
every gentleman who opposed its renewal contended that it was 
not necessary for the purpose of holding deposits of revenue, be- 
cause State banks could answer all such purposes equally well. A 
strong and prevailing tone of argument runs through all the speeciies 
on that occasion, tending to this conclusion, viz. that Govern- 
ment may derive from State banks all the benefit which a Bank of 
the United States could render. In 1816, when the charter of the 
last bank was granted, it contained, as originally presented, no pro- 
vision for making the public deposits in the bank. The bill was 
probably drawn, in this particular, from the model of the first char- 
ter, in which no such clause was contained, without adverting to 
the law of 1800 ; but a section was introduced, on my motion, 
making it the duty of collectors to deposit the public moneys in 
the bank and its branches. It was this section of the law which 
some of us thought was violated by the removal of the deposites. 
The main object of the deposit bill of 1836, as we know, was to 
regulate deposits of the public money with the State banks ; so 
that, from the commencement of the government to the present 
time, nobody has thought of making any question of the constitu- 
tional power of Congress to make such arrangements. 

The gentleman's other proposition, and which he lays down with 
still more confidence and emphasis, is, that Congress cannot, con- 
stitutionally, authorize the receipt of bank notes, though they be 



- 



329 

notes of specie-paying banks, in payment of debts to Government ; 
because, he says, that would make them money ; and if we make 
them money, then we are bound to control and regulate that 
money. Most certainly, sir, I agree with the honorable member, 
that when bank notes become money, we are bound to control and 
regulate them. 1 thank him for this admission ; since it goes a 
great way to support that proposition, for which 1 have been con- 
tending. That bank notes have become money in fact, that they 
answer the uses of money, that, in many respects, the law treats 
them as money, is certain. Why, then, are we not already bound 
to control and regulate them ? The gentleman will say. Because 
we have not, ourselves, made them money. But is that any 
answer? If they have become money in fact, they require the 
same regulation, and we have the same authority to bestow it, as if 
they had acquired that character by any acts of our own ; because 
our power is general : it is to take care of the money of the coun- 
try, and to regulate all the great concerns of commerce. 

But let us see how this opinion of the honorable member stands 
upon the authorities in our own history. 

When the first bank was established, the right of Congress to 
create such a corporation was, as we all know, very much disputed. 
Large majorities, however, in both Houses, were of opinion that the 
right existed, and they therefore granted the charter ; and in this 
charter there was an express provision that the bills of the bank 
should be receivable in all payments to Government. Those who 
opposed the bank did not object to this clause : on the contrary, 
they went even much further; and Mr. INIadison expressly insisted 
that Congress might grant or refuse, to State banks, the privilege of 
havin'i' their notes received in revenue. In 1791, therefore, men 
of all parties supposed that Congress, in its discretion, might au- 
thorize the receipt of bank notes. The same principle was incor- 
porated into the bank charter of 1816: indeed it was in the bill 
which the gentleman himself reported ; and it passed without ob- 
jection from any quarter. But this is not all. Mr. President, let 
us look into the proceedings of the session of 1815— '16 a little 
more closely. At the commencement of that session, Mr. Madi- 
son drew our attention to the state of the currency ; by which he 
meant the paper currency of the country, which was then very 
much disordered, as tiie banks had suspended specie payment dur- 
ing the war, and had not resumed. Early in the progress of the 
session, the honorable member from South Carolina moved that this 
part of the message should be referred to a select committee. It 
was so ordered. The committee was raised, and the honorable 
gentleman placed at its head. As chairman of the committee, he 
introduced the bank bill, explained it, defended it, and carried it 
triumphantly through the House, having in it the provision which I 
have before mentioned. 

VOL. III. 42 BB* 



330 

But there Is something more. At the same session the gentle- 
man introduced the bill for the further collection of the revenue, 
to which I have already referred, and in which bill he carried the 
receivability of bank notes much further, and provided that notes of 
any hank or bankers which ivere payable and paid, on demand, in 
specie, might be allowed and accepted in all payments to the Uni- 
ted States. So that the honorable gentleman himself drew, with 
his own pen, tlie very first legal enactment in the histoiy of this 
Government, by which it was provided that the notes of State banks 
should be considered and treated as money at the Treasury. Still 
further, sir : The bill containing this provision did not pass the 
House ; and as I deemed some provision necessary, indispensably 
necessary, for the state of things then existing, I introduced, I think 
the very next day after the failure of the honorable gentleman's bill, 
three resolutions. The two first were merely declaratory, asserting 
that all duties, taxes, and imposts, ought to be uniform, and that the 
revenues of the United States ought to be collected and received 
in the legal currency, or in Treasury notes, or the notes of the Bank 
of the United States, as by law provided. These two resolutions 
I agreed to waive, as it was thought they were not essential, and 
that they might imply some degree of censure upon past transac- 
tions. The third resolution was in these words : 

" And resolved, further. That the Secretary of the Treasury be, 
and he hereby is, required and directed to adopt such measures as 
he may deem necessary to cause, as soon as may be, all duties, 
taxes, debts, or sums of money accruing or becoming payable to 
the United States, to be collected and paid in the legal currency of 
the United States, or Treasury notes, or notes of the Bank of the 
United States, as aforesaid ; and that from and after the 1st day of 
February next, no such duties, taxes, debts, or sums of money ac- 
cruing or becoming payable to the United States, as aforesaid, ought 
to be collected or received otherwise than in the legal currency of 
the United States, or Treasury notes, or notes of the Bank of the 
United States, as aforesaid." 

Tlie Senate will perceive that, in this resokition of mine, there 
was no provision whatever for receiving bank notes, except of the 
Bank of the United States, according to its charter. Well, what 
happened thereon ? Why, sir, if you look into the National Intel- 
ligencer of a succeeding day, you will find it stated, that Mr. Cal- 
houn moved to amend Mr. Webster's resolution by " extending its 
provisions to the notes of all banks which should, at the time speci- 
fied therein, pay their notes in specie on demand." 

This amendment was opposed by me, as being unnecessary, m- 
asmuch as all such bills would be received of course, as they always 
had been received. The honorable member said, that, for his own 
part, he did not himself think it necessary ; he thought such bills 



331 

would continue to be received, as they had been, without any new 
provision ; he had offered the amendment, however, to satisfy the 
doubts of others; but since it was opposed, he would wididraw it, 
and he did withdraw it. The resolution passed the House, there- 
fore, exactly as I had prepared it. But in the Senate it was 
amended, in the manner which the honorable member had proposed 
in the House ; and in this amendment the House ultimately con- 
curred. 

The provision was thus incorporated into the resolution, became 
part of the law of the land, and so remains at this very moment. 
Sir, may I not now say to the honorable member, that, if the con- 
stitution of the country has been violated by treating bank notes as 
money — " Thou art the man ! " 

How is it possible, sir, the gentleman could so far forget his own 
agency in these most important transactions, as to stand up here, 
the other day, and with an air not only of confidence, but of defi- 
ance, say, " But I take a still higher ground ; I strike at the root 
of the mischief. I deny the right of this Government to treat bank 
notes as money in its fiscal transactions. On this great question I 
never have before committed myself, though not generally disposed 
to abstain from forming or expressing opinions." 

I will only add, sir, that this reception and payment of bank 
notes was expressly recognized by the act of the 14th April, 183G; 
by die deposit act of June of that year ; and by the bill which 
passed botli Houses in 1837, but which the President did neither 
approve nor return. In all these acts, so far as 1 know, the hon- 
orable member from South Carolina himself concurred. 

So much for authority. 

But now, sir, what is the principle of constiaiction upon which 
the gentleman relies to sustain his doctrine ? " The genius of our 
constitution," he says, " is opposed to the assumption of power." 
This is undoubtedly true; no one can deny it. But he adds, 
" Whatever power it gives, is expressly granted." 

But I think, sir, this by no means follows from the first proposi- 
tion, and cannot be maintained. It is doubtless true that no power 
is to be assumed ; but then powers may be inferred, or necessa- 
rily implied. It is not a question of assumption ; it is a question of 
fair, just, and reasonable inference. To hold that no power is 
granted, and no means authorized, but such as are granted or au- 
thorized by express words, would be to establish a doctrine that 
would put an end to the Government. It could not last through a 
single session of Congress. If such opinions had prevailed in the 
beginning, it never could have been put in motion, and would not 
have drawn its first breath. My friend, near me, froin Delaware, 
has gone so fully and so ably into this part of the subject, that it 
has become quite unnecessary for me to pursue it. Where the 



332 

constitution confers on Congress a general power, or imposes a 
general duty, all other powers necessary for the exercise of that 
general power, and for fulfilling that duty, are implied, so far as there 
is no prohihition. We act every day upon this principle, and could 
not carry on the Government without its aid. Under the power to 
coin money, we build expensive mints — fill them with officers — 
punish such officers for embezzlement — buy bullion — and exercise 
various other acts of power. 

The constitution says that the judicial power of the United States 
shall be vested in certain courts. Under this general authority, we 
not only establish such courts, but protect their records by penalties 
against forgery, and the purity of their administration by punishing 
perjuries. 

The Department of the Post-Office is another, and signal in- 
stance, of the extent and necessity of implied powers. The whole 
authority of Congress over this subject is expressed in very few 
words; they are merely " to establish post-offices and post-roads." 
Under this short and general grant, laws of Congress have been 
extended to a great variety of very important enactments, without 
the specific grant of any power whatever, as any one may see who 
will look over the post-office law s. In these laws, among other pro- 
visions, penalties are enacted against a great number of offences ; 
thus deducing the highest exercise of criminal jurisdiction, by rea- 
sonable and necessary inference, from the general authority. But 
1 forbear from traversing a field already so fully explored. 

There are one or two other remarks, sir, in the gentleman's 
speech, which 1 must not entirely omit to notice. 

In speaking of the beneficial effects of this measure, one, he says, 
would be, that " the weight of the banks would be taken from the 
side of the tax-consumers, where it has been from the commence- 
ment of the Government, and placed on the side of the tax-payers. 
This great division of the community necessarily grows out of the 
fiscal action of the Government." 

Sir, I utterly deny that there is the least foundation, in fact, for 
this distinction. It is an odious distinction, calculated to inspire 
envy and hatred ; and being, as I think, wholly groundless, its sug- 
gestion, and the endeavor to maintain it, ought to be resisted and 
repelled. We are all tax-payers, in the United States, who use 
articles on which imposts are laid ; and who is there that is excused 
from this tax, or does not pay his proper part of it, according to his 
consumption ? Certainly no one. 

On the other hand, who are the tax-consumers ? Clearly, the 
army, the navy, the laborers on public works, and other persons in 
Government employment. But even these are not idle consumers ; 
they are agents of the Government and of the people. Pensioners 
may be considered as persons who enjoy benefit fiom the public 



333 

taxes of the country, without renderiui^ present service in return ; 
but the legal provision for them stands on the ground of previous 
merits, which none deny. If we had a vast national debt, the an- 
nual interest of which was a chai'ge upon the country, the holders 
of this debt mi'dit be considered as tax-consumers. But we have 
no such debt. If the distinction, therefore, which the gentleman 
states exists any where, most certainly it does not exist here. And 
1 cannot but exceedingly regret that sentiments and opinions should 
be expressed here, having so little foundation, and yet so well cal- 
culated to spread prejudice and dislike, far and wide, against the 
Government and institutions of the country. 

But, sir, I have extended these remarks already to a length for 
which I tind no justification but in my profound conviction of the 
importance of this crisis in our national alFairs. We are, as it seems 
to me, about to rush madly from our proper spheres. We are to 
relinquish the perfoiTuance of our own incumbent duties ; to aban- 
don the exercise of essential powers, confided by the constitution to 
our hands, for the good of the country. This was my opinion in 
September — it is my opinion now. Wiiat we propose to do, and 
what we omit to do, are, in my judgment, likely to make a fearful, 
perhaps a fatal, inroad upon the unity of commerce between these 
States, as w ell as to embarrass and harass the employments of the 
people, and to prolong existing evils. 

Sir, whatever we may think of it now, the constitution had Its 
immediate origin in the conviction of the necessity for this uniformity, 
or identity, in commercial regulations. 

The whole history of the country, of every year and every 
month, from the close of the war of the Revolution to 17S9, proves 
this. Over whatever other interests it was made to extend, and 
whatever other blessings it now does, or hereafter may, confer on 
the millions of free citizens who do or shall live under its protection ; 
even though, in time to come, it should raise a pyraniid of power and 
grandeur, wliose apex should look down on the loftiest political 
structures of other nations and other ages, it will yet be true, that 
it was itself the child of pressing commercial necessity. Unity and 
identity of commerce among all the States was its seminal principle. 
It had been found absolutely impossible to excite or foster enterprise 
in trade, under the influence of discordant and jarring State regula- 
tions. The country was losing all the advantages of its position. 
The Revolution itself was beginning to be regarded as a doubtful 
blessing. The ocean before us was a barren waste. No Ameri- 
can canvass whitened its bosom — no keels of ours ploughed its 
waters. The journals of the Congress of the Confederation show, 
the most constant, unceasing, unwearied, but always unsuccessful 
appeals to the States and the people, to renovate the system, to 
infuse into that Confederation at once a spirit of union and a spirit 



334 

of activity, by conferring on Congress the power over trade. By 
nothing but the perception of its indispensable necessity — by notli- 
ing but their consciousness of suffering from its want — were the 
States and the people brought, and brought by siow degrees, to 
invest this power in a permanent and competent Government, 

Sir, hearken to the fervent language of the old Congress, in July, 
1785, in a letter addressed to the States, prepared by Mr. Monroe, 
Mr. King, and other great names, now transferred from the lists of 
livino- men to the records which carry dou n the fame of the distin- 
guished dead. The proposition before them, the great object to 
which they so solicitously endeavored to draw the attention of the 
States, was this, viz. that " the United States, in Congress assem- 
bled, should have the sole and exclusive right of regulating the trade 
of the States, as well with foreign nations as with each odier." 
This, they say, is urged upon the States by every consideration of 
local as well as of federal policy ; and they beseech them to agree 
to it, if they wish to promote the strength of the Union, and to con- 
nect it by the strongest lies of interest and affection. This was in 
July, 1785. 

In the same spirit, and for the same end, was that most impor- 
tant resolution which was adopted in the House of Delegates of 
Virginia, on the 21st day of the following January. Sir, I read 
the resolution entire. 

" Resolved, That Edmund Randolph, and others, be appointed commissioners, 
who, or any five of whom, shall meet such commissioners as may be appoinU'd 
by the other States in the Union, at a time and place to be agreed on, to take 
into consideration the trade of the United States ; to examine the relative situa- 
tions and trade of the said States ; to consider how far a uniform system in tlieir 
commercial regulations may be necessary to their common interest and their per- 
manent harmony, and to report to the several States such an act relative to this 
great object, as, when unanimously ratified by tiiem, will enable the irnited 
States, in Congress assembled, effectually to provide for the same ; tliat the said 
commissioners shall immediately transmit to the several States copies of the 
preceding resolution, with a circular letter requesting their concurrence therein, 
and proposing a time and place for the meeting aforesaid." 

Here, sir, let us pause. Let us linger at the waters of this origi- 
nal fountain. Let us contemplate this, the first step in that series 
of proceedings, so full of great events to us and to the world. Not- 
withstanding the embarrassment and distress of the country, the 
recommendation of the old Congress had not been complied with. 
Every attempt to bring the State Legislatures into any harmony of 
action, or any pursuit of a common object, had signally and disas- 
trously fliiled. The exigency of the case called for a new move- 
ment — for a more direct and powerful attempt to bring the good 
sense and patriotism of the country into action upon the crisis. A 
solemn assembly was therefore proposed — a general convention 
of delegates from all the States. And now, sir, what was the 
exigency? What was this crisis ? Look at the resolution itself; 



S35 

there Is not an idea In it but trade. Commerce ! commerce ! Is 
the beginning and end of it. The subject to be considered and 
examined was " the relative situation of the trade of the States ; " 
and tlie object to be obtained was the " establishment of a uniform 
system in their commercial regulations, as necessary to the common 
interest and their permanent harmony." This is all. And, sir, 
by the adoption of this ever-memorable resolution, the House of 
Delegates of Virginia, on the 21st day of January, 1786, performed 
the first act in the train of measures which resulted in that constitu- 
tion, under the authority of which you now sit in that chair, and I 
have now the honor of addressing the members of this body. 

INIr. President, I am a Northern man. I am attached to one 
of the States of the North, by the ties of birth and parentage ; 
by the tillage of paternal fields ; by education ; by the associa- 
tions of early life ; and by sincere gratitude for proofs of public 
confidence early bestowed. I am bound to another Northern 
State by adoption, by long residence, by all the cords of social 
and domestic life, and by an attachment and regard, springing 
from her manifestation of approbation and favor, which grapple 
me to her with hooks of steel. And yet, sir, with the same 
sincerity of respect, the same deep gratitude, the same reverence 
and hearty good will, with which I would pay a similar tribute 
to either of these States, do I here acknowledge the Com- 
monwealth of Virginia to be entitled to the honor of commencing 
the work of establishing this constitution. The honor is hers ; let 
her enjoy it ; let her forever wear it proudly ; there is not a brighter 
jewel in the tiara that adorns her brow. Let this resolution stand, 
illustratiniT her records, and blazoninii her name through all time ! 

The meeting, sir, })roposed by the resolution was holden. It 
took place, as all know, in Annapolis, in May of the same year ; but 
it was thinly attended, and its members, very wisely, adopted 
measures to bring about a fuller and more general convention. 
Their letter to the States on this occasion is full of instruction. It 
shows their sense of the unfortunate condition of the country. In 
their meditations on the subject, they saw the extent to which the 
commercial power must necessarily extend. The sagacity of New 
Jersey had led her, in agreeing to the original proposition of Vir- 
ginia, to enlarge the object of the appointment of commissioners, 
so as to embrace not only commercial regulations, but other impor- 
tant matters. This suggestion the commissioners adopted, because 
they thought, as they inform us, '• that the power of regulating 
trade is of such comprehensive extent, and will enter so far into 
the general system of the Federal Government, that to give ii 
efficacy, and to obviate questions and doubts concerning its precise 
nature and limits, might require a correspondent adjustment of 
other parts of the Federal system." Here you scC; sir, that other 



336 

powers, such as are now in the constitution, were expected to 
branch out of the necessary commercial power ; and, therefore, the 
letter of the commissioners concludes with recommending a general 
convention, " to take into consideration the ivhoh situation of the 
United States, and to devise such further provisions as should 
appear necessary to render the constitution of the Federal Govern- 
ment adequate to the exigencies of the Union." 

The result of that convention was the present constitution. And 
yet, in the midst of all this flood of light, respecting its original 
objects and purposes, and while we cannot but see the adequate 
powers which it confers for accomplishing these purposes, we 
abandon the commerce of the country, we betray its interests, 
we turn ourselves away from its most crying necessities. Sir, 
it will be a fact, stamped in deep and dark lines upon our annals ; it 
will be a tRith, which in all time can never'be denied or evaded, 
that if this constitution shall not, now and hereafter, be so admin- 
istered as to maintain a uniform system in all matters of trade ; if it 
shall not protect and regulate the commerce of the country, in all its 
great interests, in its foreign intercourse, in its domestic intercourse, 
in its navigation, in its currency, in every thing which fairly belongs 
to the whole idea of commerce, either as an end, an agent, or an 
instrument, then that constitution will have failed, utterly failed to 
accomplish the precise, distinct, original object, in which it had its 
being. 

In matters of trade we were no longer to be Georgians, Virginians, 
Pennsylvanians, or Massachusetts men. We were to have but one 
commerce, and that the commerce of the United States. There 
were not to be separate flags, waving over separate commercial 
systems. There was to be one flag, the e pluuibus unum ; and 
toward that was to be that rally of united interests and affections, 
which our fathers had so earnestly invoked. 

Mr. President, this unity of commercial regulation is, in my 
opinion, indispensable to the safety of the union of the States. 
In peace it is its strongest tie. I care not, sir, on what side, or 
in which of its branches, this constitutional authority may be 
attacked. Every successful attack upon it, made any where, 
weakens the whole, and renders the next assault easier and more 
dangerous. Any denial of its just extent is an attack upon it. 
We attack it, most fiercely attack it, whenever we say we will 
not exercise the powers which it enjoins. If the Court had 
yielded to the pretensions of respectable States upon the subject 
of steam navigation, and to the retaliatory proceedings of other 
States ; if retreat and excuse, and disavowal of power, had been 
prevailing sentiments then, in what condition, at this moment, 
let me ask, would the steam navigation of the country be found ? 
To us, sir, to us, his countrymen, — to us, who feel so much admira- 



337 

tion for his genius, and so much gratitude for his services, — Fulton 
would have lived almost in vain. State grants and State exclusions 
would have covered over all our waters. 

Sir, it is in the nature of such things, that the first violation, or 
the first departure from true principles, draws more important viola- 
tions or departures after it ; and the first surrender of just authority 
will be followed by others more to be deplored. If commerce be a 
unit, to break it in any one part, is to decree its ultimate dismem- 
berment in all. If there be made a first chasm, though it be small, 
through that the whole wild ocean will pour in, and we may then 
labor to throw up embankments in vain. 

Sir, the spirit of union is particularly liable to temptation and se- 
duction in moments of peace and prosperity. In war, this spirit is 
strengthened by a sense of common danger, and by a thousand 
recollections of ancient efforts and ancient glory in a common cause. 
But in the calms of a long peace, and the absence of all apparent 
causes of alarm, things near gain an ascendency over things remote. 
Local interests and feelings overshadow national sentiments. Our 
attention, our regard, and our attachment, are every moment 
solicited to what touches us closest, and we feel less and less the 
attraction of a distant orb. Such tendencies we are bound by true 
patriotism, and by our love of union, to resist. This is our duty; 
and the moment, in my judgment, has arrived when that duty is 
summoned to action. We hear, every day, sentiments and argu- 
ments which would become a meeting of envoys, employed by 
separate Governments, more than they become the common Legis- 
lature of a united country. Constant appeals are made to local 
interests, to geographical distinctions, and to the policy and the 
pride of particular States. It would sometimes appear that it was, 
or as if it were, a settled purpose, to convince the people that our 
Union is nothing but a jumble of different and discordant interests, 
which must, erelong, be all returned to their original state of sepa- 
rate existence; as if, therefore, it was of no great value while it 
should last, and was not likely to last long. The process of disin- 
tegration begins, by urging, as a fact, the existence of different 
interests. 

Sir, is not the end obvious, to which all this leads us ? Who does 
not see that, if convictions of this kind take possession of the public 
mind, our Union can hereafter be nothing, while it remains, but a 
connection without harmony ; a bond without affection ; a theatre 
for the angry contests of local feelings, local objects, and local jeal- 
ousies ? Even while it continues to exist in name, it may, by these 
means, become nothing but the mere form of a united Government. 
My children, and the children of those who sit around me, may 
meet, perhaps, in this chamber, in the next generation ; but if 
tendencies, now but too obvious, be not checked, they will meet as 
VOL. III. 43 c c 



338 

strangers and aliens. They will feel no sense of common interest 
or common country : they will cherish no common object of patriotic 
love. If the same Saxon language shall fall from their lips, it may 
be the chief proof that they belong to the same nation. Its vital 
principle exhausted and gone, its power of doing good terminated, 
now productive only of strife and contention, the Union itself must 
ultimately fall, dishonored and unlamented. 

The honorable member from Carolina himself habitually indulges 
in charges of usurpation and oppression against the Government of 
his country. He daily denounces its important measures, in the 
language in which our revolutionary fathers spoke of the oppres- 
sions of the mother country. Not merely against Executive usur- 
pation, either real or supposed, does he utter these sentiments, but 
against laws of Congress, laws passed by large majorities, laws 
sanctioned, for a course of years, by the people. These laws he 
proclaims, every hour, to be but a series of acts of oppression. 
He speaks of them as if it were an admitted fact, that such is their 
true character. This is the language which he utters, these the 
sentiments he expresses, to the rising generation around him. Are 
they sentiments and language which are likely to inspire our chil- 
dren with the love of union, to enlarge their patriotism, or to teach 
them, and to make them feel, that their destiny has made them 
common citizens of one great and glorious republic ? A principal 
object, in his late political movements, the gentleman himself 
tells us, was to unite the entire South; and against whom, or 
against what, does he wish to unite the entire South ? Is not this 
the very essence of local feeling and local regard ? Is it not the ac- 
knowledgment of a wish and object to create political strength, by 
uniting political opinions geographically ? While the gentleman 
thus wishes to unite the entire South, I pray to know, sir, if he 
expects me to turn toward the polar-star, and, acting on the same 
principle, to utter a cry of Rally ! to the whole North ? Heaven 
forbid ! To the day of my death, neither he nor others shall hear 
such a cry from me. 

Finally, the honorable member declares that he shall now march 
off, under the banner of State rights ! March off from whom ? 
March off from what? We have been contending for great princi- 
ples. We have been stmggling to maintain the liberty and to 
restore the prosperity of the country ; we have made these strug- 
gles here, in the national councils, with the old flag, the true 
American flag, the Eagle, and the Stars and Stripes, waving over 
the Chamber in which we sit. He now tells us, however, that he 
marches off under the State-rights banner ! 

Let him go. I remain. I am, where I ever have been, and 
ever mean to be. Here, standing on the platfoim of the general 
constitution — a platform, broad enough, and finn enough, to 



339 

uphold eveiy interest of the whole country — I shall still be found. 
Intrusted with some part in the administration of that constitution, 
I intend to act in its spirit, and in the spirit of those who framed it. 
Yes, sir, I would act as if our fathers, who formed it for us, and 
who bequeathed it to us, were looking on me — as if 1 could see 
their venerable forms, bending down to behold us from the abodes 
above. I would act, too, as if the eye of posterity was gazing 
on me. 

Standing thus, as in the full gaze of our ancestors and our pos- 
terity, having received this inheritance from the former, to be trans- 
mitted to the latter, and feeling that, if I am born for any good, in 
my day and generation, it is for the good of the whole country, no 
local policy, or local feeling, no temporary impulse, shall induce 
me to yield my foothold on the Constitution and the Union. I 
move off under no banner not known to the whole American peo- 
ple, and to their constitution and laws. No, sir ; these walls, these 
colunms 

From their firm base as soon as I." 

1 came into public life, sir, in the service of the United States. 
On that broad altar, my earliest, and all my public vows, have 
been made. I propose to serve no other master. So far as de- 
pends on any agency of mine, they shall continue united States ; 
united in interest and in affection ; united in every thing in regard to 
which the constitution has decreed their union; united in war, for 
the conuuon defence, the common renown, and the common glory; 
and united, compacted, knit firmly together in peace, for the com- 
mon prosperity and happiness of ourselves and our children. 



SPEECH 



IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, IN ANSWER TO 
MR. CALHOUN, MARCH 22, 1838. 



On Thursday, the 22d of March, Mr. Calhodn spoke at length in answer 
to Mr. Webster's Speech of March 12. 

When he had concluded, Mr. Webster immediately rose, and addressed 
the Senate as follows : — 

Mr. President : I came rather late to the Senate this morning, 
and happening to meet a friend on the avenue, I was admonished 
by him to hasten my steps, as " the war was to be carried into 
Africa," and I was expected to be annihilated. I lost no time in 
following the advice, sir, since it would be awkward for one to be 
annihilated without knowing any thing about it. 

Well, sir, the war has been brought into Africa. The honorable 
member has made an expedition into regions as remote from the 
subject of this debate as the orb of Jupiter from that of our earth. 
He has spoken of the tariff, of slavery, and of the late war. Of all 
this I do not complain. On the contrary, if it be his pleasure to 
allude to all, or any of these topics, for any purpose whatever, I 
am ready at all times to hear him. 

Sir, this carrying the war into Africa, which has become so com- 
mon a phrase among us, is, indeed, imitating a great example ; but 
it is an example which is not always followed by success. In the 
first place, sir, every man, though he be a man of talent and genius, 
is not a Scipio ; and in the next place, as I recollect this part of 
Roman and Carthaginian history, — the gentleman may be more 
accurate, — but as I recollect it, when Scipio resolved upon carry- 
ing the war into Africa, Hannibal was not at home. Now, sir, I 
am very little like Hannibal, but I am at home ; and when Scipio 
Africanus South Carolinaensis brings the war into my territories, I 
shall not leave their defence to Asdrubal, nor Syphax, nor any 
body else. I meet him on the shore, at his landing, and propose 
but one contest. 

" Concurritur ; 
Aut cita mors, aut victoria Iseta." 



') 



Mr. President, 1 had made up my mind that if the honorable 
gentleman should confine himself to a reply, in the ordinary way, I 



340 



341 

vould not say another syllable. But he has not done so. He has 
gone off into topics quite remote from all connection with reve- 
nue, commerce, finance, or sub-treasuries, and invites to a discussion 
which, however uninteresting to the public at the present moment, 
is too personal to be declined by me. 

He says, sir, that I had undertaken to compare my political 
character and conduct with his. Far from it. I attempted no 
such thing. I compared the gentleman's political opinions at 
different times with one another, and expressed decided opposition 
to those which he now holds. And I did, certainly, advert to the 
general tone and drift of the gentleman's sentiments and expres- 
sions, for some years past, in their bearing on the Union, with such 
remarks as I thought they deserved ; but I instituted no comparison 
between him and myself. He may institute one, if he pleases, 
and when he pleases. Seeking nothing of this kind, I avoid nothing. 
Let it be remembered, that the gentleman began the debate, by 
attempting to exhibit a contrast between the present opinions and 
conduct of my friends and myself, and our recent opinions and 
conduct. Here is the first charge of inconsistency ; let the public 
judge, whether he has made it good. He says, sir, that on several 
questions I have taken different sides, at different times : let him 
show it. If he shows any change of opinion, I shall be called on 
to give a reason, and to account for it. I leave it to the country 
to say whether, as yet, he has shown any such thing. 

But, sir, before attempting that, he has something else to say. 
He had prepared, it seems, to draw comparisons himself. He had 
intended to say something, if time had allowed, upon our respective 
opinions and conduct in regard to the war. If time had allowed ! 
Sir, time does allow — time must allow. A general remark of 
that kind ought not to be, cannot be, left to produce its effect, when 
that effect is obviously intended to be unfavorable. Why did the 
gentleman allude to my votes, or my opinions, respecting the war, 
at all, unless he had something to say ? Does he wish to leave an 
undefined impression that something was done, or something said, 
by me, not now capable of defence or justification ? somediing not 
reconcilable with true patriotism ? He means that, or nothing. And 
now, sir, let him bring the matter forth : let him take the responsi- 
bility of the accusation : let him state his facts. I am here to an- 
swer : I am here, this day, to answer. Now is the time, and now the 
hour. I think we read, sir, that one of the good spirits would not 
biing against the arch enemy of mankind a railing accusation ; and 
what is railing, but general reproach — an imputation, without fact, 
time, or circumstance ? Sir, I call for particulars. The gentleman 
knows my whole conduct well : indeed, the journals show it all, 
from the moment I came into Congress till the peace. If I have 
done, then, sir, any thing unpatriotic — any thing which, as far as 

CO* 



342 

• 

love to country goes, will not bear comparison with his, or any 
man's conduct — let it now be stated. Give me the fact, the time, 
the manner. He speaks of the war ; that which we call the late 
war, though it is now twenty-five years since it terminated. He 
would leave an impression that I opposed it. How ? I was not 
in Congress when war was declared, nor in public life, any where. 
I was pursuing my profession, keeping company with judges and 
jurors, and plaintiffs and defendants. If I had been in Congress, 
and had enjoyed the benefit of hearing the honorable gendeman's 
speeches, for all I can say, I might have concurred with him. But 
I was not in public life. I never had been, for a single hour; and 
was in no situation, therefore, to oppose or to support the declara- 
tion of war. I am speaking to the fact, sir ; and if the gentleman 
has any fact, let us know it. 

Well, sir, I came into Congress during the war. I found it 
waged, and raging. And what did I do here to oppose it ? Look 
to the journals. Let the honorable gentleman tax his memory. 
Bring up any thing, if there be any thing to bring up — not showing 
error of opinion, but showing want of loyalty or fidelity to the 
country. I did not agree to all that was proposed, nor did the 
honorable member. I did not approve of every measure, nor 
did he. 

The war had been preceded by the restrictive system, and the 
embargo. As a private individual, I certainly did not think well 
of these measures. It appeared to me the embargo annoyed our- 
selves as much as our enemies, while it destroyed the business, and 
cramped the spirits, of the people. 

In this opinion I may have been right or wrong, but the gentle- 
man was himself of the same opinion. He told us, the other day, 
as a proof of his independence of party, on great questions, that 
he differed with his friends on the subject of the embargo. He 
was decidedly and unalterably opposed to it. It furnishes, in his 
judgment, therefore, no imputation either on my patriotism, or the 
soundness of my political opinions, that I was opposed to it also. 
I mean opposed in opinion ; for I was not in Congress, and had 
nothing to do with the act creating the embargo. And as to 
opposition to measures for carrying on the war, after I came into 
Congress, I again say, let the gentleman specify — let him lay his 
finger on any thing, calling for an answer, and he shall have an 
answer. 

Mr. President, you were yourself in the House during a consid- 
erable part of this time. The honorable gentleman may make a 
witness of you. He may make a witness of any body else. He 
may be his own witness. Give us but some fact, some charge, 
something capable in itself either of being proved or disproved. 
Prove any thing, state any thing, not consistent with honorable and 



343 

patriotic conduct, and I am ready to answer it. Sir, I am glad 
this subject lias been alluded to, in a manner which justifies me in 
taking public notice of it ; because I am well aware that, for ten 
years past, infinite pains have been taken to find something, in 
the range of these topics, which might create prejudice against me 
in the country. The journals have all been pored over, and the 
reports ransacked, and scraps of paragraphs and half sentences 
have been collected, put together in the falsest manner, and then 
made to flare out, as if there had been some discovery. But all 
this failed. The next resort was to supposed correspondence. 
My letters were sought for, to learn if, in the confidence of private 
friendship, I had never said any thing which an enemy could make 
use of. With this view, the vicinity of my former residence has 
been searched, as with a lighted candle. New Hampshire has 
been explored, from the mouth of the Merrimack to the White Hills. 
In one instance a gentleman had left the State, gone five hundred 
miles off, and died. His papers were examined — a letter was 
found, and I have understood it was brought to Washington — a 
conclave was held to consider it, and the result was, that if there 
was nothing else against Mr. Webster, the matter had better be 
let alone. Sir, 1 hope to make every body of that opinion who 
brings against me a charge of want of patriotism. Errors of 
opinion can be found, doubtless, on many subjects ; but as conduct 
flows from the feelings which animate the heart, I know that no act 
of my life has had its origin in the want of ardent love of country. 

Sir, when 1 came to Congress, I found the honorable gentleman 
a leading member of the House of Representatives. Well, sir, in 
what did we differ ? One of the first measures of magnitude, after 
I came here, was Mr. Dallas's proposition for a bank. It was a 
war measure. It was urged as being absolutely necessary to 
enable Government to carry on the war. Government wanted 
revenue — such a bank, it was hoped, would furnish it ; and on that 
account it was most warmly pressed and urged on Congress. You 
remember all this, JNIr. President. You remember how much some 
persons supposed the success of the war and the salvation of the 
country depended on carrying that measure. Yet the honorable 
member from South Carolina opposed this bill. He now takes to 
hiuiself a good deal of merit — none too much, but still a good 
deal of merit, for having defeated it. Well, sir, I agreed with him. 
It was a mere paper bank — a mere machine for fabricating 
irredeemable paper. It was a new form for paper money ; and 
instead of benefiting the country, I thought it would plunge it 
deeper and deeper in difficulty. I made a speech on the subject : 
it has often been quoted. There it is ; let whoever pleases, read 
and examine it. I am not proud of it, for any ability it exhibits ; 
on the other hand, I am not ashamed of it, for the spirit which 



344 

it manifests. But, sir, I say again, that the gentleman himself took 
tlie lead, against this measure — tliis darling measure of the Ad- 
ministration. I followed him ; if 1 was seduced into error, or into 
unjustifiable opposition, there sits my seducer. 

What, sir, were other leading sentiments, or leading measures of 
that day ? On what other subjects did men differ ? The gentle- 
man has adverted to one, and that a most important one ; I mean 
the navy. He says, and says truly, that at the commencement of 
the war the navy was unpopular. It was unpopular with his 
friends, who then controlled the politics of the country. But he 
says he differed with his friends ; in this respect, he resisted party 
influence, and party connection, and was the friend and advocate of 
the navy. Sir, I commend him for it. He showed his wisdom. 
Tliat gallant little navy soon fought itself into favor, and showed 
that no man, who had placed reliance on it, had been disaj)pointed. 

Well, sir, in all this, I was exactly of the same opinion as the 
honorable gentleman. 

Sir, I do not know when my opinion of the importance of a naval 
force to the United States had its origin. I can give no date to 
my present sentiments on this subject, because I never entertained 
different sentiments. 1 remember, sir, that immediately after com- 
ing into my profession, at a period when the navy was most 
unpopular, when it was called by all sorts of hard names, and 
designated by many coarse epithets, on one of those occasions, on 
which young men address their neighbors, I ventured to put forth 
a boy's hand in defence of the navy. 1 insisted on its importance, 
its adaptation to our circumstances, and to our national character ; 
and its indispensable necessity, if we intended to maintain and 
extend our commerce. These opinions and sentiments I brought 
into Congress ; and, so far as I remember, it was the first, or among 
the first times, in which I presumed to speak on the topics of the 
day, that I attempted to urge on the House a greater attention to 
the naval service. There were divers modes of prosecuting the 
war. On these modes, or on the degree of attention and expense 
which should be bestowed on each, different men held different 
opinions. I confess I looked with most hope to the results of naval 
warfare, and therefore I invoked Government to invigorate and 
strengthen that arm of the national defence. I invoked it to seek 
its enemy upon the seas — to go where every auspicious indication 
pointed, and where the whole heart and soul of the country would 
go with it. 

Sir, we were at war with the greatest maritime Power on earth. 
England had gained an ascendency on the seas over the whole 
combined Powers of Europe. She had been at war twenty years. 
She had tried her fortunes on the continent, but generally with no 
success. At one time the whole continent had closed against 



345 

her. A long line of armed exterior, an unbroken hostile array, 
frowned upon her from the gulf of Archangel, round the promon- 
tory of Spain and Portugal, to the foot of the boot of Italy. There 
was not a port which an English ship could enter. Every where 
on the land the genius of her great enemy had triumphed. He 
had defeated armies, crushed coalitions, and overturned thrones ; 
but, like the fabled giant, he was unconquerable only while he 
touched the land. On the ocean, he was powerless. That field 
of fame was his adversary's, and her meteor flag was streaming in 
triumph all over it. 

To her maritime ascendency England owed every thing, and 
we were now at war with her. One of the most charming of her 
poets had said of her, that 

" Her march is o'er the mountain wave, 
Her home is on the deep." 

Now, sir, since we were at war with her, I was for intercepting 
this march ; I was for calling upon her, and paying our respects to 
her at home ; I was for giving her to know that we, too, had a 
right of way over the seas, and that our marine officers and our 
sailors were not entire strangers on the bosom of the deep ; I was 
for doing something more with our navy, than to keep it on our 
shores, for the protection of our own coasts and own harbors ; I 
was for giving play to its gallant and burning spirit ; for allowing it 
to go forth upon the seas, and to encounter, on an open and an 
equal field, whatever the proudest or the bravest of the enemy 
could brino asainst it. I knew the character of its officers and the 
spirit of its seamen ; ajid I knew that, in their hands, though the 
flag of the country might go down to the bottom, while they went 
with it, yet that it could never be dishonored or disgraced. 

Since she was our enemy — and a most powerful enemy — I 
was for touching her, if we could, in the very apple of her eye; 
for reaching the highest feather in her cap ; for clutching at the 
very brightest jewel in her crown. There seemed to me to be a 
peculiar propriety in all this, as the war was undertaken for the 
redress of maritime injuries alone. It was a war declared for free 
trade and sailors' rights. The ocean, therefore, was the proper 
theatre for deciding this controversy with our enemy, and on that 
theatre my ardent wish was, that our own power should be con- 
centrated to the utmost. 

So much, sir, for the war, and for my conduct and opinions as 
connected with it. And, as I do not mean to recur to this subject 
often, nor ever, unless indispensably necessary, I repeat the demand 
for any charge, any accusation, any allegation whatever, that throws 
me behind the honorable gentleman, or behind any oUier man, in 
honor, in fidelity, in devoted love to tliat country in which I was 
VOL. III. 44 



346 

born, which has honored me, and which I serve. I, who seldom 
deal in defiance, now, here, in my place, boldly defy the honorable 
member to put his insinuation in the form of a charge, and to sup- 
port that charge by any proof whatever. 

The gentleman has adverted to the subject of slavery. On this 
subject, he says, 1 have not proved myself a friend to the South. 
Why, sir, the only proof is, tliat 1 did not vote for his resolutions. 

Sir, this is a very grave matter; it is a subject very exciting and 
inflammable. I take, of course, all the responsibility belonging to 
my opinions ; but 1 desire these opinions to be understood, and 
fairly stated. If I am to be regarded as an enemy to the South, 
because I could not support the gentlemen's resolutions, be it so. 
I cannot purchase favor, from any quarter, by the sacrifice of clear 
and conscientious convictions. The principal resolution declared 
that Congress had plighted its faith not to interfere either with 
slavery or the slave trade in the District of Columbia. 

Now, sir, this is quite a new idea. I never heard it advanced 
until this session. I have heard gentlemen contend, that no such 
power was in the constitution ; but the notion, that though the con- 
stitution contained the power, yet that Congress had plighted 
its faith not to exercise such a power, is an entire novelty, so far 
as I know. I must say, sir, it appeared to me little else than an 
attempt to put a prohibition into the constitution, because there was 
none there already. For this supposed plighting of the public 
faith, or the faith of Congress, I saw no ground, either in the 
history of the Government, or in any one fact, or in any argument. 
I therefore could not vote for the proposition. 

Sir, it is now several years since 1 took care to make my opinion 
known, that this Government has, constitutionally, nothing to do 
with slavery, as it exists in the States. That opinion is entirely 
unchanged. I stand steadily by the resolution of the House of 
Representatives, adopted, after much consideration, at the com- 
mencement of the Government — which was, that Congress have 
no authority to interfere in the emancipation of slaves, or in the 
treatment of them, within any of the States ; it remaining with the 
several States alone to provide any regulations therein, which 
humanity and true policy may require. This, in my opinion, is 
the constitution, and the law. I feel bound by it. I have quoted 
the resolution often. It expresses the judgment of men of all 
parts of the country, deliberately formed, in a cool time ; and it 
expresses my judgment, and I shall adhere to it. But this has 
nothing to do with the other constitutional question ; that is to say, 
the mere constitutional question, whether Congress has the power 
to regulate slavery and the slave trade, in the District of Columbia. 

On such a question, sir, when I am asked what the constitution 
is, or whether any power granted by it has been compromised 



347 

away ; or, Indeed, could be compromised away — I must express 
my honest opinion, and always shall express it, if I say any thing, 
notwithstanding it may not meet concurrence either in the South, 
or the North, or the East, or the West. I cannot express by my 
vote what I do not believe. 

He has chosen to bring that subject into this debate, with which 
it has no concern, but he may make the most of it, if he thinks 
he can produce unfavorable impressions on the South, from my 
negative to his fifth resolution. As to the rest of them, they were 
commonplaces, generally, or abstractions ; in regard to which, one 
may well not feel himself called on to vote at all. 

And now, sir, in regard to the tariff. That is a long chapter, 
but I am quite ready to go over it with the honorable member. 

He charges me with inconsistency. That may depend on deci- 
ding what inconsistency is, in respect to such subjects, and how it 
is to be proved. I will state the facts, for I have them in my 
mind somewhat more fully than the honorable member has himself 
presented them. Let us begin at the beginning. In 1816, I 
voted against the tariff law, which then passed. In 1824, 1 again 
voted against the tariff law, which was then proposed, and which 
passed. A majority of New England votes, in 1824, was against 
the tariff system. The bill received but one vote from Massachu- 
setts ; but it passed. The policy was established ; New England 
acquiesced in it, conformed her business and pursuits to it ; em- 
barked her capital, and employed her labor, in manufactures ; and 
I certainly admit that, from that time, I have felt bound to support 
interests thus called into being, and into importance, by the settled 
policy of the Government. I have stated this often here, and often 
elsewhere. The ground is defensible, and I maintain it. 

As to the resolutions adopted in Boston, in 1820, and which 
resolutions he has caused to be read, and which he says he presumes 
I prepared, I have no recollection of having drawn the resolutions, 
and do not believe I did. But I was at the meeting, and addressed 
the meeting, and what I said on that occasion has been produced 
here, and read in the Senate years ago. 

The resolutions, sir, were opposed to the commencing of a hii^h 
tariff policy. I was opposed to it, and sjjoke against it — the city 
of Boston was opposed to it — the Commonwealth of Massachu- 
setts was opposed to it. Remember, sir, that this was in 1820. 
This opposition continued till 1824. The votes all show this. 
But in 1824, the question was decided ; the Government entered 
upon the policy ; it invited men to embark their i)roperty and their 
means of living in it. Individuals have done this to a great extent ; 
and, therefore, I say, so long as the manufactures shall need reason- 
able and just protection from Government, I shall be disposed to 
give it to them. What is there, sir, in all this, for the gentleman 



348 

to complain of? Would he have us always oppose the policy, 
adopted by the country, on a great question ? Would he have 
minorities never submit to the will of majorities ? 

I remember to have said, sir, at the meeting in Faneuil Hall, that 
protection appeared to be regarded as incidental to revenue, and 
that the incident could not be carried fairly above the principal : 
in other words, that duties ought not to be laid for the mere object 
of protection. I believe that was substantially correct. 1 believe 
that if the power of protection be inferred only from the revenue 
power, the protection could only be incidental. 

But I have said in this place before, and I repeat now, that Mr. 
Madison's publication, after that period, and his declaration that the 
convention did intend to grant the power of protection, undei the 
commercial clause, placed the subject in a new and a clear light. 
I will add, sir, that a paper drawn up by Dr. Franklin, and read 
by him to a circle of friends in Philadelphia, on the eve of the 
assembling of the convention, respecting the powers which the 
proposed new Government ought to possess, shows, perfectly 
plainly, that in regulating commerce, it was expected Congress 
would adopt a course which should protect the manufactures of 
the North. He certainly went into the convention himself under 
that conviction. 

Well, sir, and now what does the gentleman make out against 
me in relation to the tariff? What laurels does he gather in this 
part of Africa ? I opposed the 'policy of the tariff, until it had 
become the settled and established policy of the country. I have 
never questioned the constitutional power of Congress to grant 
protection, except so far as the remark goes, made in Faneuil Hall, 
which remark respects only the length to which protection might 
properly be carried, so far as the power is derived from the author- 
ity to lay duties on imports. But the policy being established, and 
a great part of the country having placed vast interests at stake in 
it, 1 have not disturbed it ; on the contrary, I have insisted that it 
ought not to be disturbed. If there be inconsistency in all this, the 
gentleman is at liberty to blazon it forth ; let him see what he can 
make of it. 

Here, sir, I cease to speak of myself; and respectfully ask 
pardon of the Senate for having so long detained it, upon any thing 
so unimportant as what relates merely to my own public conduct 
and opinions. 

Sir, the honorable member is pleased to suppose that our spleen 
is excited, because he has interfered to snatch from us a victory 
over the Administration. If he means by this any personal disap- 
pointment, I shall not think it worth while to make a remark upon 
It. If he means a disappointment at his quitting us while we were 
endeavoring to arrest the present policy of the Administration, 



li 



349 

why, then, I admit, sir, that T, for one, felt that disappointment 
deeply. It is the policy of the Administration, its principles, and 
its measures, which I oppose. It is not persons, hut things ; not 
men, hut measures. I do wish most fervently to put an end to this 
anti-commercial policy ; and if the overthrow of the policy shall be 
followed by the political defeat of its authors, why, sir, it is a result 
which I shall endeavor to meet with equanimity. 

Sir, as to the honorable member's rescuing tlie victory from us, 
or as to his ability to sustain the Administration in this policy, there 
may be a drachm of a scruple about that. I trust the citadel will 
yet be stormed, and carried, by the force of public opinion, and 
that no Hector will be able to defend its walls. 
. But now, sir, I must advert to a declaration of the honorable 
member, which- I confess, did surprise me. The honorable mem- 
ber says, that, personally, he and myself have been on friendly 
terms, but tliat we always differed on great constitutional questions ! 
Sir, this is astounding. And yet I was partly prepared for it ; for 
I sat here the other day, and held my breath, while the honorable 
gentleman declared and repeated, that he always belonged to the 
State-rights party ! And he means, by what he has declared to- 
day, that he has always given to the constitution a construction 
more limited, better guarded, less favorable to the extension of the 
powers of this Government, than that which I have given to it. 
He has always interpreted it according to the strict doctrine of the 
school of State rights ! Sir, if the honorable member ever belonged, 
until very lately, to the State-rights party, the connection was very 
much like a secret marriage. And never was secret better kept. 
Not only were the espousals not acknowledged, but all suspicion 
Avas avoided. There was no known familiarity, or even kindness 
between them. On the contrary, they acted like parties who were 
not at all fond of each other's company. 

Sir, is there a man, in my hearing, among all the gentlemen now 
surrounding us, many of whom, of both Houses, have been here 
many years, and know the .gentleman and myself, perfectly ; is 
there one, who ever heard, supposed, or dreamed, that the honor- 
able member belonged to the State-rights party before the year 
1825? Can any such connection be proved upon him — can he 
prove it upon himself, before that time ? 

Sir, I will show you, before I resume my seat, that it was not 
until after the gentleman took his seat, in the chair which you now 
occupy, that any pubhc manifestation, or intimation, was ever given 
by him, of his having embraced the peculiar doctrines of the State- 
rights party. 

The truth is, sir, the honorable gentleman had acted a very 
important and useful part during the war. But the war terminated. 
Toward the close of the session of 1814-15, we received the 

DD 



350 

news of peace. Tlils closed the 13th Congress. In the fall of 
1815, the 14th Congress assembled. It was full of ability, and 
the honorable orentleman stood hiojh among its distinguished mem- 
bers. He remained in the House, sir, through the whole of that 
Congress ; and now, sir, it is easy to be shown, that during those 
two years, the honorable gendeman took a decided lead, in all 
those great measures, which he has since so often denounced, as 
unconstitutional and oppressive — the bank, the tariff, and internal 
improvements. The war being terminated, the gentleman's mind 
turned itself toward internal administration and improvement. He 
surveyed the whole country, contemplated its resources, saw 
what it was capable of becoming, and held a political faith, not so 
narrow and contracted, as to restrain him from useful and efficient 
action. He was, therefore, at once, a full length ahead of all 
others, in measures, which were national, and which required a 
broad and liberal construction of the constitution. This is historic 
truth. Of his agency in the bank, and other measures connected 
with the currency, I have already spoken, and I do not understand 
him to deny any thing I have said, in that particular. Indeed, I 
have said nothing capable of denial. 

Now allow me a few words upon the tariff. The tariff of 1816 
was distinctly a South Carolina measure. Look at the votes, and 
you will see it. It was a tariff, for the benefit of South Carolina 
interests, and carried tln'ough Congress by South Carolina votes, 
and South Carolina influence. Even the minimum, sir, the so- 
rauch-reproached, the abominable minimum, that subject of angry 
indignation and wrathful rhetoric, is of Southern origin, and has a 
South Carolina parentage. 

Sir, the contest on that occasion was, chiefly, between the cotton- 
growers at home, and the importers of cotton fabrics from India. 
These India fabrics were made from the cotton of that country. 
The people of this country were using cotton fabrics, not made of 
American cotton, and, so far, they were diminishing the demand 
for such cotton. The importation of India cottons was then very 
large, and this bill was designed to put an end to it, and, with the 
help of the minimum, it did put an end to it. The cotton manu- 
factures of the North were then in their infancy. They had some 
friends in Congress, but if I recollect, the majority of Massachusetts 
members, and of New England members, were against this cotton 
tariff of 1816. I remember well, that the main debate was, be- 
tween the importers of India cottons, in the North, and the cotton- 
gi'owers of the South. The gentleman cannot deny the truth of 
this or any part of it. Boston opposed this tariff, and Salem op- 
posed it, warmly and vigorously. But the honorable member 
supported it, and the law passed. And now be it always 
remembered, sir, that that act passed on the professed ground of 



551 

protection ; that it had in it the minimum principle, and that the 
honorable member and other leading gentlemen from his own State, 
supported it, voted for it, and carried it through Congress. 

And now, sir, we come to the doctrine of internal improvement 

— that other usurpation, that other oppression, which has come so 
near to justifying violent abruption of the Government, and scat- 
tering the fragments of the Union to the four winds. Have the 
gentleman's State-rights opinions always kept him aloof from such 
unhallowed infringements of the constitution ? He says he always 
differed with me on constitutional questions. How was it in this, 
most important, particular ? Has he here stood on the ramparts, 
brandishing his glittering sword against assailants, and holding out a 
banner of defiance? Sir — sir — sir — it is an indisputable truth, 
that he is himself the man — the ipse that first brought forward, in 
Congress, a scheme of general internal improvement, at the ex- 
pense, and under the authority of this Government. He, sir, is the 
very man, the ipsissimus ipse, who, considerately, and on a settled 
system, began these unconstitutional measures, if they be uncon- 
stitutional. And now for the proof. 

The act incorporating the Bank of the United States was passed 
in April, 1816. For the privileges of the charter, the proprietors 
of the bank were to pay to Government a bonus, as it was called, 
of one million five hundred thousand dollars, in certain instalments. 
Government also took seven millions in the stock of the bank. 
Early in the next session of Congress — that is, in December, 1816 

— the honorable member moved, in the House of Representatives, 
that a connnittee be appointed to consider the propriety of setting 
apart this bonus, and also the dividends on the stock belonging to 
the United States, as a permanent fund for internal improvement. 
The committee was appointed, and the honorable member was 
made its chairman. He thus originated the plan, and took the lead 
in its execution. Shortly afterwards, he reported a bill carrying 
out the objects for which the committee had been appointed. This 
bill provided that the dividends on the seven millions of bank stock 
belonging to Government, and also the whole of the bonus, should 
be permanently pledged, as a fund for constructing roads and 
canals ; and that this fund should be subject to such specific ap- 
propriations as Congress might thereafter make. 

This was the bill ; and this was the first project ever brought 
forward, in Congress, for a system of internal improvenients. The 
bill goes the whole doctrine, at a single jump. The Cumberland 
road, it is true, was already in progress ; and for that the gentleman 
had also voted. But there were, and are now, peculiarities about 
that particular expenditure, which sometimes satisfy scrupulous 
consciences ; but this bill of the gentleman's, without equivocation 
or savmg clause — without if, or and, or but — occupied the whole 



352 

ground at once, and announced internal improvement as one of the 
objects of this Government, on a grand and systematic plan. The 
bill, sir, seemed, indeed, too strong. It was thought, by persons 
not esteemed extremely jealous of State rights, to evince, never- 
theless, too little regard to the will of the States. Several gentle- 
men opposed the measure, in that shape, on that account; and 
among them Colonel Pickering, then one of the representatives 
from Massachusetts. Even Timothy Pickering could not quite 
sanction, nor concur in, the honorable gentleman's doctrines, to 
their full extent, although he favored the measure in its general 
character. He, therefore, prepared an amendment, as a substitute ; 
and his substitute provided for two very important things not em- 
braced in the original bill : — 

First, that the proportion of the fund to be expended in each 
State, respectively, should be in proportion to the number of its 
inhabitants. 

Second, that the money should be applied in constructing such 
roads, canals, &ic., in the several States, as Congress might direct, 
toith the assent of the State. 

This, sir, was Timothy Pickering's amendment of the honorable 
gentleman's bill. And now, sir, how did the honorable gentleman, 
who has always belonged to the State-rights party, how did he treat 
this amendment, or this substitute ? Which way, do you think, his 
State-rights doctrine led him ? Why, sir, I will tell you. He 
immediately rose, and moved to strike out the words " with the 
assent of the State /" Here is the journal under my hand, sir ; and 
here is the gentleman's motion. And certainly, sir, it will be ad- 
mitted, that this motion was not of a nature to intimate that he had 
become wedded to State rights. But the words were not stricken 
out. The motion did not prevail. Mr. Pickering's substitute was 
adopted, and the bill passed the House in that form. 

Iri Committee of the Whole on this bill, sir, the honorable mem- 
ber made a very able speech, both on the policy of internal im- 
provements, and the power of Congress over the subject. These 
points were fully argued by him. He spoke of the importance of 
the system ; the vast good it would produce, and its favorable effect 
on the union of the States. " Let us, then," said he, " bind the 
republic together, with a perfect system of roads and canals. Let 
us conquer space. It is thus the most distant parts of the republic 
will be brought within a few days' travel of the centre ; it is thus 
that a citizen of the West will read the news of Boston still moist 
from the press." 

But on the power of Congress to make internal improvements ; 
ay, sir, on the power of Congress, hear him ! What were then his 
rules of construction and interpretation ? How did he at that time 
read and understand the constitution ? Why, sir, he said that " he 



353 

was no advocate for refined arguments on the constitution. Tlie 
instrument was not intended as a thesis for the logician to exercise 
his ingenuity on. It ought to be construed with plain good sense." 
This is all very just, I think, sir ; and he said much more. He 
quoted many instances of laws, passed, as he contended, on similar 
principles, and then added, that " he introduced these instances to 
prove the uniform sense of Congress, and of the country, (for they 
had not been objected to,) as to our powers ; and surely," said he, 
" they furnish better evidence of the true interpretation of the con- 
stitution, than the most refined and subtile arguments." 

Here you see, Mr. President, how little original I am. You 
have heard me, again and again, contending in my place here for 
the stability of that which has been long settled ; you have heard 
me, till I dare say you have been tired, insisting that the sense of 
Congress, so often expressed, and the sense of the country, so fully 
known, and so firmly established, ought to be regarded as having 
decided, finally, certain constitutional questions. You see now, sir, 
what authority I have for this mode of argument. But while the 
scholar is learning, the teacher renounces. Will he apply his old 
doctrine, now — I sincerely wish he would — to the question of the 
bank, to the question of the receiving of bank notes by Govern- 
ment, to the power of Congress over the paper currency ? Will 
he, sir, will he admit that these ought to be regarded as decided, 
by the settled sense of Congress and of the country ? Oh ! no. 
Far otherwise. From these rules of judgment, and from the influ- 
ence of all considerations of this practical nature, the honorable 
member now takes these questions with him into the upper heights 
of metaphysics, into the regions of those refinements, and subtile ar- 
guments, which he rejected, with so much decision, in 1817, as ap- 
pears by this speech. He quits his old ground of common sense, 
experience, and the general understanding of the country, for a 
flight among theories and ethereal abstractions. 

And now, sir, let me ask, when did the honorable member relin- 
quish these early opinions and principles of his ? When did he 
make known his adhesion to the doctrines of the State-rights party ? 
We have been speaking of transactions in 1816 and 1817. What 
the gentleman's opinions then were, we have seen. But when did 
he announce himself a State-rights man ? I have already said, sir, 
that nobody knew of his claiming that character until after the com- 
mencement of 1825; and I have said so, because I have before me 
an address of his to his neighbors at Abbeville, in May of that year, 
in which he recounts, very properly, the principal incidents in his 
career, as a member of Congress, and as head of a Department ; 
and in which he says that, as a member of Congress, he had given 
his zealous efforts in favor of a restoration of specie currency ; of a 
due protection of those manufactures which had taken root during 

VOL. IIL. 45 DD* 



354 

the war, and, finally, of a system for connecting the various parts 
of the country hy a judicious system of internal improvement. 

And he adds, that it afterwards became his duty, as a member 
of the Administration, to aid in sustaining, against the boldest as- 
saults, those very measures, which, as a member of Congress, he 
had contributed to establish. 

And now, sir, since the honorable gentleman says he differed 
from me on constitutional questions, will he be pleased to say what 
constitutional opinion I have ever expressed, for which I have not 
his express audiorlty ? Is it on the bank power ? the tariff power ? 
the power of internal improvement ? I have shown his votes, his 
speeches, and his conduct, on all these subjects, up to the time 
when General Jackson became a candidate for the Presidency. 
From that time, sir, I know we have differed ; but If there was any 
difference before that time, I call upon him to point it out — what 
was the occasion, what the question, and what the difference ? And 
if, before that period, sir, by any speech, any vote, any public pro- 
ceeding, or by any other mode of announcement whatever, he gave 
the world to know that he belonged to the State-rights party, I hope 
he will now be kind enough to produce it, or to refer to it, or to 
tell us where we may look for it. 

Sir, I will pursue this topic no farther. I would not have pur- 
sued it so far — I would not have entered upon It at all — had It not 
been for the astonishment I felt, mingled, I confess, with something 
of warmer feeling, when the honorable gentleman declared that he 
had always differed from me on constitutional questions. 

Sir, the honorable member read a quotation or two from a speech 
of mine in 1816, on the currency or bank question. With what in- 
tent, or to what end ? What inconsistency does he show ? Speak- 
ing of the legal currency of the country, that is, the coin, I then 
said it was in a good state. Was not that true ? I was speaking 
of the legal currency ; of that which the law made a tender. And 
how is that inconsistent with any thing said by me now, or ever 
said by me ? 

I declared then, he says, that the framers of this Government 
were hard-money men. Certainly they were. But are not the 
friends of a convertible paper hard-money men, in every practical 
and sensible meaning of the term ? Did I, in that speech, or any 
other, insist on excluding all convertible paper from the uses of so- 
ciety ? Most assuredly I did not. I never quite so far lost my 
wits, I think. There is but a single sentence in that speech which 
1 should qualify if I were to deliver it again — and that the honor- 
able member has not noticed. It is a paragraph respecting the 
power of Congress over the circulation of State banks, which might 
perhaps need explanation or correction. Understanding It as ap- 
plicable to the case then before Congress, all the rest is perfectly 



355 

accordant with my present opinions. It is well known that I never 
doubted the power of Congress to create a bank ; that I was always 
in favor of a bank, constituted on proper principles ; that I voted for 
the bank bill of 1815; and that I opposed that of 1816 only on 
account of one or two of its provisions, which I and others hoped 
to be able to strike out. I am a hard-money man, and always have 
been, and always shall be. But I know the great use of such bank 
paper as is convertible into hard money, on demand ; which may 
be called specie paper, and which is equivalent to specie in value, 
and much more convenient and useful for common purposes. 

On the other hand, I abhor all irredeemable paper ; all old-fash- 
ioned paper money ; all deceptive promises ; every thing, indeed, 
in the shape of paper issued for circulation, whether by Government 
or individuals, which may not be turned into gold and silver at the 
will of the holder. 

But, sir, I have insisted that Government is bound to protect and 
regulate the means of commerce, to see that there is a sound cur- 
rency for the use of the people. 

The honorable gentleman asks. What then is the limit ? Must 
Congress also furnish all means of commerce ? Must it furnish 
weights and scales and steelyards ? Most undoubtedly, sir, it must 
regulate weights and measures, and it does so. But the answer to 
the general question is very obvious. Government must furnish all 
that which none but Government can furnish. Government must 
do that for individuals which individuals cannot do for themselves. 
That is the very end of Government. Why else have we a 
Government ? And can individuals make a currency? Can indi- 
viduals regulate money ? The distinction is as broad and plain as 
the Pennsylvania avenue. No man can mistake it, or well blunder 
out of it. The gentleman asks if Government must furnish for 
the people ships, and boats, and wagons. Certainly not. The 
gentleman here only recites the President's message of September. 
These things, and all such things, the people can furnish for them- 
selves ; but they cannot make a currency ; they cannot, individu- 
ally, decide what shall be the money of the country. That, every 
body knows, is one of the prerogatives, and one of the duties, of 
Government ; and a duty which 1 think we are most unwisely and 
improperly neglecting. We may as well leave the people to make 
war and to make peace, each man for himself, as to leave to indi- 
viduals the regulation of commerce and currency. 

Mr. President, there are other remarks of the gendeman of which 
I might take notice. But, should I do so, I could only repeat 
what I have already said, either now or heretofore. I shall, there- 
fore, not now allude to them. 

My principal purpose, in what I have said, has been, first, to 
defend myself — that was my first object ; and next, as the hon- 



356 

orable member has attempted to take to himself the character of a 
strict constructionist, and a State-rights man, and on that basis to 
show a difference, not favorable to me, between his constitutional 
opinions and my own, heretofore, it has been my intention to show 
that the power to create a bank, the power to regulate the cur- 
rency by other and direct means, the power to lay a protecting 
tariff, and the power of internal improvement, in its broadest sense, 
are all powers which the honorable gentleman himself has supported, 
has acted on, and in the exercise of which, indeed, he has taken a 
distinguished lead in the councils of Congress. 

If this has been done, my purpose is answered. I do not wish 
to prolong the discussion, nor to spin it out into a colloquy. If the 
honorable member has any thing new to bring forward ; if he has 
any charge to make — any proof, or any specification ; if he has 
any thing to advance against ray opinions or my conduct, my honor 
or patriotism, I am still at home. I am here. If not, then, so far 
as I am concerned, this discussion will here terminate. 

I will say a few words, before I resume my seat, on the motion 
now pending. That motion is, to strike out the specie-paying part 
of the bill. I have a suspicion, sir, that the motion will prevail. 
If it should, it will leave a great vacuum; and how shall that 
vacuum be filled ? 

The part proposed to be struck out, is that which requires all 
debts to Government to be paid in specie. It makes a good pro- 
vision for Government, and for public men, through all classes. 
The Secretary of the Treasury, in his letter, at the last session, 
was still more watchful of the interests of the holders of office. 
He assured us, bad as the times were, and notwitiistanding the floods 
of bad paper which deluged the country, members of Congress 
should get gold and silver. 

In my opinion, sir, this is beginning the use of good money, in 
payments, at the wrong end of the list. If there be bad money in 
the country, I think that Secretaries and other executive officers, 
and especially members of Congress, should be the last to receive 
any good money ; because they have the power, if they will do 
their duty, and exercise the power, of making the money of the 
country good for all. I think, sir, it was a leading feature in Mr. 
Burke's flunous bill for economical reform, that he provided, first 
of all, for those who are least able to secure themselves. Every 
body else was to be well paid all they were entitled to, before the 
ministers of the Crown, and other political characters, should have 
any thing. This seems to me very right. But we have a prece- 
dent, sir, in our own country, more directly to the purpose ; and as 
that which we now hope to strike out is the part of the bill furnished, 
or proposed originally by the honorable member from South 
Carolina, it will naturally devolve on him to supply its place. I 



357 

wish therefore to draw his particular attention to this precedent, 
which I am now about to produce. 

Most members of the Senate will remember, that, before the 
establishment of this Government, and before, or about the time, 
that tlic territory which now constitutes tlie State of Tennessee was 
ceded to Congress, the iniiabitants of the eastern part of that terri- 
tory established a government for themselves, and called it the State 
of Franklin. They adopted a very good constitution, divided into 
the usual branches of legislative, executive, and judicial power. 
They laid and collected taxes, and performed other usual acts of 
legislation. They had, for the present, it is true, no maritime pos- 
sessions, yet they followed the common forms in constituting high 
officers ; and their governor was not only captain-general and com- 
mander-in-chief, but admiral also, so that the navy might have a 
commander when there should be a navy. 

Well, sir, the currency in this State of Franklin became very 
much deranged. Specie was scarce, and equally scarce were the 
notes of specie-paying banks. But the legislature did not propose 
any divorce of government and people ; they did not seek to 
establish two currencies, one for men in office, and one for the rest 
of the community. They were content with neighbor's fare. It 
became necessary to pass what we should call, now-a-days, the 
civil-list appropriation-bill. They passed such a bill ; and when we 
shall have made a void in the bill now before us, by striking out 
specie payments, for Government, I recommend to its friends to fill 
the gap, by inserting, if not the same provisions as were in the 
law of the State of Franklin, at least something in the same spirit. 

Tlie preamble of that law, sir, begins by reciting, that the col- 
lection of taxes, in specie, had become very oppressive to the good 
people of the commonwealth, for the want of a circulating medi- 
um. A parallel case to ours, sir, exactly. It reches further, sir, 
that it is the duty of the legislature to hear, at all times, the prayer 
of their constituents, and apply as speedy a remedy as lies in their 
power. These sentiments are very just, sir, and I sincerely wish 
there was a thorough disposition here, to adopt the like. 

Acting under the influence of these sound opinions, sir, the legis- 
lature of Franklin passed a law, for the support of the civil list, 
which, as it is short, I will beg permission to read. 

" Be it enacted hy the General Assembly of the State of 
Franklin, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, 
That, from the first day of January, A. D. 1789, the salaries of 
the civil officers of this commonwealth be as follow, to wit. 

" His excellency the governor, per annum, one thousand deer- 
skins ; his honor, the chief justice, five hundred do. do ; the attorney 
general, five hundred do. do. ; secretary to his excellency the gov- 



358 

emor, five hundred raccoon do. ; the treasurer of the State, four 
hundred and fifty otter do. ; each county clerk, three hundred 
beaver do. ; clerk of the house of commons, two hundred raccoon 
do. ; members of assembly, per diem, three do. do. ; justice's fee 
for signing a warrant, one muskrat do. ; to the constable, for serving 
a warrant, one mink do. 

" Enacted into a law this 18th day of October, 1788, under the 
great seal of the State. 

" Witness his excellency, Sue. 

" Governor, captain-general, command er-in-chief, 
and admiral in and over said State.'' 

This, sir, is the law, the spirit of which I commend to gentlemen. 
[ will not speak of the appropriateness of these several allowances 
for the civil list. But the example is good, and I am of opinion, 
that until Congress shall perform its duty, by seeing that the coun- 
try enjoys a good currency, the same medium which the people are 
obliged to use, whether it be skins or rags, is good enough for its 
own members. 



SPEECH 

AT FANEUIL HALL, JULY 24, 1838. 



On the return of Mr. Webster from the session in which lie had signalized 
himself by the dehvery of the two masterly speeches next preceding this, a large 
number of his fellow-citizens of Boston could not be restrained from manifesting 
tlieir sense of his extraordinary efforts, in exhibiting the true character of the 
odious sub-Treasury project, and in procuring its ultimate rejection by Congress. 
A public dinner was accordingly offered him, and was accepted. More than fif- 
teen hundred persons attended it, every ticket having been eagerly taken as soon 
as issued. Faneuil Hall could hold no more. Governor Everett presided at 
the tables, and the spirit of the occasion cannot be better conveyed than by in- 
serting the brilliant and beautiful remarks with which he introduced Mr. Web- 
ster to the assembly : — 

"And now, fellow-citizens," said he, "I rise to discharg-e the most pleas- 
ing part of my duty, which I fear you will tliink I have too long postponed ; 
the duty which devolves on me, as the organ of your feelings toward our 
distinguished guest, the senior Senator of the Commonwealth. And yet, fel- 
low-citizens, I appeal to you, that I have approached tliis duty, tlirough the 
succession of ideas which most naturally conducts our minds and hearts to 
tlie grateful topic. I have proposed to you, our Country and its Prosperity. 
Vv'^ho among the great men, his contemporaries, has more widely surveyed 
and comprehended the various interests of all its parts ? I have proposed, 
the Union of the States. What public man is there living, whose political 
course has been more steadily coasecrated to its perpetuity ? I have pro- 
posed to you, the Constitution. And who of our statesmen, from the time of 
the framers, has more profoundly investigated, more clearly expounded, more 
powerfully vindicated and sustained it.' But these topics I may pass over. 
They are matters which have been long familiar to you ; they need not any 
comment from me. 

" The events of the last year, and of the last session of Congress, and the 
present state of the country, invite our attention more particularly to the re- 
cent efforts of our distinguished guest on the subject of the cuRRENcr. I 
know not but some persons may think that undue importance has been at- 
tached to the questions which have divided parties on this subject; that these 
questions are not so vital to liberty as they have been represented. But 
such an opinion would be erroneous. Undoubtedly there are countries — 
not free ones — in which money questions, as connected with the govern- 
ment, are of minor consequence. In China, in Turkey, in Persia, 1 presume 
they are very little discussed. In these countries, the great question is, 
whether a man's head, at night., will be found in the same pleasing and con- 
venient proximity to his shoulders, that it was in the morning ; and this is a 
kind of previous question, which, if decided against him, cuts of!' all others. 
Under those arbitrary governments of Europe where the prince takes what 
ho pleases, and when he pleases, it is of very little moment where he deposits 

359 



360 

it, on its way from the pockets of the people to his own. But it was remarked 
by Edmund Burke, more than seventy years ago, that in England, (and a 
fortiori in the United States, that is, under constitutional governments,) the 
great struggles for liberty had been almost always money questions, and on 
this ground he excused the Americans for the stand they took in opposition 
to a paltry tax. But, most certainly, the money question, as it has been agi- 
tated among us, is vastly more important, more intimately connected with 
constitutional liberty, than that which brought on the revolution. The ques- 
tion with our fathers was one of a small tax, ours of the entire currency. 
Theirs concerned three pence per pound on tea, illegally levied ; ours, the 
entire currency illegally disposed of — tlie entire medium of circulation de- 
ranged, and for a period annihilated — the whole business of the country, in 
all its great branches, brought under the control of the Treasury. The noble 
stand, therefore, taken by our distinguished Senator in this controversy, has 
been upon points which concern the dearest interests of the people, and the 
elemental principles of the government. 

" In fact, I know not that a policy can be imagined more at war with the 
true character of the Government, than that which he has been called to 
combat. The past and present Administrations, relying too confidently on 
tlie popular delusions which brought them into office, have systematically 
defeated one of the great original objects for which the Union was framed — 
that of a uniform medium of Commerce. Nor has the manner of their policy 
been less objectionable than its design. They have crowded experiment 
upon experiment, with tlie fatal recklessness of the rash engineer who urges 
the fires in his furnaces till some noble steamer bursts in an awful explosion. 
Our Senators and Representatives, and their associates, could they have for- 
gotten that a revered Constitution and a beloved Country were the chief vic- 
tims, might well have folded their arms, and left the authors of the calamity 
to extricate themselves, as best they might, from the ruin. But not thus 
have they understood their duty ; and we have seen them with admiration, in 
tlie last days of the session, gallantly putting out m the life-boat of the Con- 
stitution, with an eye of fire at the top, and an arm of iron at the helm, to 
cruise about on the boiling waters, and pick up all that is left undestroyed. 
When I have seen the adherents of the Administration rejecting, so far as 
they ventured, the salutary measures proposed or supported by our distin- 
guished guest and his associates, for the restoration of the currency and the 
recfitablishment of the public credit, and clinging to all that events have 
spared of their discredited measures, they have seemed to me to resemble 
the sun-stricken victims of a moody madness, who, instead of thankfully 
embracing the proffered relief, would prefer to float about on the weltering 
waters, clinging to the broken planks, the shivered splinters, of their explod- 
ed policy — sure as they are, at the very best, if they reach solid ground, to 
do so beneath the overwhelming surge of popular indignation. 

" I shoidd take up a great deal more time than belongs to me, did I attempt 
even to sketch tlie distinguished services of our friend and guest, in this con- 
stitutional warfare. They are impressed on your memories, on your hearts. 
In the thickest of the conflict, his plume, like that of Henry the Fourth of 
France, discerned from afar, has pointed out the spot where, to use his own 
language, "the blows fall thickest and hardest;" and there he has been 
found, with the banner of the Union above his head, and the flaming cim- 
eter of the Constitution in his hand. If the public mind has been tiiorough- 
ly awakened to the inconsistency of tlie government policy with the genius 
of our institutions, if to the experience we have all had of the pernicious 
operation of this policy, there has been added a clear understanding of the 
false principles, as well of constitutional law as of political economy on which 
it rests, how much of this is not fairly to be ascribed to the efforts of our 
distinguished guest — efforts never stinted in or out of Congress — repeated 



3G1 

m every form which can persuade the judgfinent or influence the conduct of 

men — never less than cosjent, eloquent, irrefutable; but in the last session 
of Congres-!, perhaps more than ever before, jjrand, masterly, and overwhelm- 
ing. It has indeed been a rare, I had almost said a sublime spectacle, to 
see him, unsupported by a majority in cither House — opposed by the entire 
influence of the t,rovernment — di-nounced, by the Administration press, from 
one end of the Union to the other, yet carryiii"^ resolution after resolution 
against the administration — carrying them alike against the old guard and 
the new recruits, and in spite of their abrupt and ill-compacted alliance — 
compelling them, in spite of themselves, to afll:)rd some relief to the country. 

"These arc the services, fellow-citizens, for which you this day tender 
your thanks to yo\ir distinguished guest. These are tlie services for which, 
sir, on behalf of my fellow-citizens, I thank you; for which they thank you 
themselves. Behold, sir, how tliey rise to pay you a manly homage. The 
armies of Napoleon could not coerce it, the wealth of the Indies could not 
buy it; but it is freely, joyously paid, by fifteen hundred freemen, to the 
man of their affections. They thank you for having stood by them in these 
dark times — at all timos. They thank you, because they think they are 
beginning to feel the fruit of your exertions, in the daily round of their pur- 
suits. They ascribe it in no small degree to you, that the iron grasp of tlie 
government policy has been relaxed; that its bolts and chains, relics of a 
barbarous a^-e, have been shivered as soon as forged, and before they were 
riveted on the necks of the people. They thank you for having stood by 
the Constitution, in which their all of human hope for themselves and their 
children is enshrined- They thank you as one of themselves; and because 
they know that your affections are with tlie people from which you sprung. 
They thank you because you have at all times shown, that, as the Whig 
blood of the revolution circles in your veins, the Whig principles of the 
revolution are imprinted on your heart. They thank you for the entire man- 
liness of your course ; that you have never joined the treacherous cry of 
"the hatred of the poor against the rich" — a cry raised by artful men, who 
think to flatter the people, while in reality they are waging war against the 
people's business, the people's prosperity, and the people's Constitution. 
They are willing that this day's offering should be remembered, when all 
this mighty multitude shall have passed from the sUige. When tliat day 
shall have arrived. History will have written your name on one of her bright- 
est pages ; Fame will have encircled your bust with her greenest laurels ; 
hilt neither History nor Fame will have paid you a troer, heartier tribute, 
than that which now, beneath the arches of this venerable hall, in the ap- 
proving presence of these images of our canonized fatlicrs, is now tendered 
you by this great company of your fellow-citizens. 

" I give you, gentlemen, 

" Daniel Wkbster — The Statesman and the Man ; whose name is engraven 
alike on the pillars of the Constitution and tlic hearts of his fellow-citizens. 
He is worthy of that place in the Councds of the Nation, which he fills in the 
affections ot the People." 

Mr. Webster then rose, amid repeated cheerings, and addressed the meeting 
nearly as follows : — 

Gentlemen: I shall be happy indeed if the state of my 
health and the condition of my voice shall enable me to express, 
in a few words, my deep and heartfelt gratitude for this expression 
of your approbation. If public life has its cares and its trials, it 
has occasionally its consolations also. Among these, one of the 

VOL. III. 46 E E 



'ii 



362 

greatest, and the chief, is the approbation of those whom we have 
honestly endeavored to serve. This cup of consolation you have 
now administered — full — crowned — abundantly overflowing. 

It is my chief desire at this time, in a few spontaneous and affec- 
tionate words, to render you the thanks of a grateful heart. When 
I lately received your invitation in New York, nothing was farther 
from my thoughts or expectations, than that I should meet such an 
assembly as I now behold in Boston. 

But I was willing to believe that it was not meant merely as a 
compliment, which it was expected would be declined, but that it 
was in truth your wish, at the close of the labors of a long session 
of Congress, that I should meet you in this place, that we might 
mingle our mutual congratulations, and that we might enjoy to- 
gether one happy, social hour. 

The President of this assembly has spoken of the late session as 
having been not only long, but arduous ; and, in some respects, it 
does deserve to be so regarded. I may indeed say that, in an ex- 
perience of twenty years of public life, I have never yet encoun- 
tered labors or anxieties such as this session brought with it. 

With a short intermission in the autumn, — so short as not to al- 
low the more distant members to visit their homes, we have been in 
continual session from the early part of September to the ninth of 
July — a period of ten months. And on our part, during this whole 
time, we have been contending in minorities against majorities ; 
majorities, indeed, not to be relied on, for all measures, as the event 
has proved ; but still acknowledged and avowed majorities, profess- 
ing general attachment and support to the measures, and to the 
men, of the Administration. My own object, and that of those 
with whom I have had the honor to act, has been steady and uni- 
form. That object was, to resist new theories, new schemes, new 
and dangerous projects, until time could be gained for their consid- 
eration by the people. This was our great purpose, and its accom- 
plishment required no slight effort. It was the commencement of 
a new Congress. The organization of the two Houses showed 
clear and decisive Administration majorities. The Administration 
itself was new, and had come into its fresh power, with something 
of the popularity of that which preceded it. It was no child's play, 
therefore, to resist, successfully, its leading measures, for so long a 
period as should allow time for an effectual appeal to the people, 
pressed, as those measures were, with the utmost zeal and assiduity. 

The President of the day has alluded, in a very flattering man- 
ner, to my own exertions and efforts, made at different times, in 
connection with the leading topics. But I claim no particular mer- 
its for myself. In what I have done, I have only acted with others. 
I have acted, especially, with my most estimable, able, and excel- 
lent colleague, and with the experienced and distinguished men 



563 

10 fomi the Delegation of Massachusetts in the House of Repie 
jntatives — a Delegation of which any State might be justly proud. 
Ve have acted together, as men holding, in almost all cases, com- 
mon opinions, and laboring for a common end. It gives me great 
.■•leasure to have the honor of seeing so many of the Representa- 
ves of the State in Congress here to-day ; but I must not be pre- 
tfented, even by their presence, from bearing my humble but hearty 
ostimony to the fidelity and ability with which they have, in this 
arduous struggle, performed tlieir public duties. The crisis has, in- 
ieed, demanded the efforts of all ; and we of Massachusetts, while 
hope we have done our duty, have done it only in concurrence 
with other Whigs, whose zeal, ability, and exertions, can never be 
too much commended. 

This is not an occasion in which it is fit or practicable to discuss, 
very minutely, and at length, the questions which have been chief- 
ly agitated during this long and laborious session of Congress. Yet, 
so important is the great and general question, which, for the last 
twelve or fifteen months, has been presented to the consideration of 
the Legislature, that I deem it proper^ on this, and on all occasions, 
to state, at the risk of some repetition, perhaps, what is the nature 
of that important question, and briefly to advert to some of the cir- 
cumstances in which it had its origin. 

Whatever subordinate questions may have been raised touching 
a sub-Treasury, or a Constitutional Treasury, or a Treasury in one, 
or in another, or in yet a third form, I take the question, the plain, 
the paramount, the practical question, to be this, viz.: whether it be 
among the powers and the duties of Congress to take any further 
care of the national currency than to regulate the coinage of gold 
and silver. 

That question lies at the foundation of all. Other questions, 
however multiplied or varied, have but grown out of that. 

If Government is bound to take care that there is a good cur- 
rency, for all the Country, then, of course, it will have a good cur- 
rency for itself, and need take no especial pains to provide for itself 
any tiling peculiar. But if, on the other hand, Government is at 
liberty to abandon the general currency to its fate, without concern, 
and without remorse, then, from necessity, it must take care of it- 
self; amidst the general wreck of currency and credit, it must have 
places of resort and a system of shelter ; it must have a currency of 
Its own, and modes of payment and disbursement peculiar to itself. 
It must burrow and hide itself in sub-Treasury vaults : scorning 
credit, and having trust in nobody, it must grasp metallic money, 
and act as if nothing represented, or could represent, property, 
vhich could not be counted, paid piece by piece, or weighed in the 
jales, and made to ring upon the table ; or it must resort to Spe- 
al Deposits in Banks, even in those Banks whose conduct has 



364 

been so loudly denounced as flagitious and criminal, treacherous to 
the Government, and fraudulent towards the People. All these 
schemes and contrivances are but the consequences of the general 
doctrine which the Administration has advanced, and attempted to 
recommend to the Country ; that is, that Congress has nothing to 
do with the currency, beyond the mere matter of coinage, except to 
provide for itself. How such a notion should come to be entertained, 
at this day, may well be a matter of wonder for the wise ; since 
it is a truth capable of the clearest demonsu-ation, that from the 
first day of the existence of the Constitution, from the moment 
when a practical Administration of Government drew a first breath 
under its provisions, the superintendence and care over the currency 
of the country have been admitted to be among the clear and un- 
questioned powers and duties of Congress. This was the opinion 
in Washington's time, and his administration acted upon it, vig- 
orously and successfully. And in Mr. Madison's time, when 
the peculiar circumstances of the Country again brought up tlie 
subject, and gave it new importance, it was held to be the exclu- 
sive, or at least the paramount and unquestioned right of Congress 
to take care of the currency ; to restore it when depreciated ; to 
see that there was a sound, convertible paper circulation, suited to 
the circumstances of the country, and having equal value, and the 
same credit, in all parts of it. This was Mr. Madison's judgment. 
He acted upon it ; and both Houses of Congress concurred with 
him. But if we now quote Mr. Madison's sentiments, we get no 
reply at all. We may read his Messages of 1815 and 1816 as 
often as we please. No man answers them, and yet the party of 
the Administration acts upon directly opposite principles. 

Now, what has brought about this state of things ? What has 
caused this attempt, now made, at the end of half a century, to 
change a great principle of administration, and to surrender a most 
important power of the Government? Gentlemen, it has been a 
crisis of party, not of the Country, which has given birth to these 
new sentiments. The tortuous windings of party policy have con- 
ducted us, and nothing else could well have conducted us, to such 
a point. Nothing but party pledges, nothing but courses of pohti- 
cal conduct, entered upon for party purposes, and pursued, from ne- 
cessary regard to personal and party consistency, could so far have 
pushed the Government out of its clear and well-trodden path of 
Constitutional duty. From General Washington's Presidency to 
the last hour of the late President's, both the Government and the 
Country have supposed Congress to be clothed with the general 
duty of protecting the currency, either as an inference from the 
coinage power, or from the obvious and incontestable truth, that the 
regulation of the currency is naturally and plainly a branch of the 
commercial power. General Jackson himself was behind no one 



365 

of his predecessors in asserting this power, and in acknowledging 
the corresponding duty. We all know that his very first complaint 
against the late Bank of the United States was, that It had not ful- 
filled the expectation of the Country, hy furnishing for the use of 
the People a sound and uniform currency. There were many 
persons, certainly, who did not agree with him in his opinions re- 
specting the Bank and the effects of its agency on the country ; but 
it was expressly on the ground of this alleged failure of the Bank, 
that he undertook what was called the great reform. There are 
those, again, who think that, of this attempted reform, he made a 
very poor and sorry business ; but still the truth is, that he under- 
took this reform, for the very professed and avowed purpose, that 
he might fulfil better than it had been yet fulfilled, the duty of 
Government in furnishing the people with a good currency. The 
President thought that the currency, in 1832 and 1833, was not 
good enough ; that the People had a right to expect a better ; and 
to meet this expectation, he began, what he himself called his Ex- 
periment. He said the currency was not so sound, and so uniform, 
as it was the duty of Government to make it ; and he therefore un- 
dertook to give us a currency more sound and more uniform. And 
now, Gendemen, let us recur, shortly, to what followed ; for there 
we shall find the origin of the present Constitutional notions and 
dogmas. Let us see what has changed the Constitution, in this 
particular. 

In 1S33, the public Deposits were removed, by an act of the 
President himself, from the Bank of the United States, and placed 
in certain State Banks, under regulations prescribed by the Execu- 
tive alone. This was the Experiment. The utmost confidence, 
indeed, — an arrogant and intolerant confidence, — was entertained 
and expressed of its success ; and all were regarded as blind bigots to 
a National Bank, who doubted. And when the Experiment was put 
into operation, it was proclaimed that its success was found to be 
complete. Down to the very close of General Jackson's Adminis- 
tration, we heard of nothing but the wonderful success of the Ex- 
periment. It was declared, from the highest official sources, that 
the State Banks, used as Banks of Deposit, had not only shown 
themselves perfectlj^ competent to fulfil the duties of fiscal agents to 
Government, but also that they had sustained the currency, and fa- 
cilitated the great business of Internal Exchanges, with the most sin- 
gular and gratifying success, and better than the same thing had 
been done before. In all this glow and fervor of self-commenda- 
tion, the late Administration went out of office, having bequeathed 
the Experiment, with all its blushing honors and rising glories, to its 
successor. But a frost, a nipping frost, was at hand. Two months 
after General Jackson had retired, the banks suspended specie pay- 
ments, Deposit Banks and allj a universal embarrassment smote 

EE* 



366 

down the business and industry of the Country ; the Treasury was 
left without a dollar, and the biilliant glory of the Experiment dis- 
appeared in gloom and thick darkness! And now, Gentlemen, 
came die change of sentiments ; now came the new reading of the 
Constitution. A National Bank had already been declared by the 
party to be unconstitutional, the State Bank system had failed, and 
what more could be done ? What other plan was to be devised ? 
How could the duty of Government over the currency be now per- 
formed ? The Administration had decried a National Bank, and it 
now felt bound to denounce all State institutions ; and what, there- 
fore, could it do ? The whole party had laid out its entire strength, 
in an effort to render the late Bank of the United States, and any 
Bank of the United States, unpopular and odious. It had pro- 
nounced all such institutions to be dangerous, anti-republican, and 
monarchical. It had, especially, declared a National Bank to be 
plainly and clearly unconstitutional. Now, Gentlemen, I have noth- 
ing to say of the diffidence and modesty of men, who, without 
hesitation or blushing, set up their own favorhe opinions, on a ques- 
tion of this kind, against the judgment of the Government and the 
judgment of the Country, maintained for fifty years. I will only 
remark, that if we were to find men acting thus, in their own affairs, 
if we should find them disposing of their own interests, or making 
arrangements for their own property, in contempt of rules which 
they knew the Legislative and the Judicial authorities had all sanc- 
tioned for half a century, we should be very likely to think them out 
of their heads. Yet this ground had been taken against the late 
Bank, and against all National Banks ; and it could not be surren- 
dered without apparent and gross inconsistency. What, then. I 
ask again, was the Administration to do ? You may say, it should 
have retracted its error, it should have seen the necessity of a Na- 
tional Institution, and yielded to the general judgment of the 
Country. 

But that would have required an effort of candor and magnanim- 
ity, of which all men are not capable. Besides, there were open, 
solemn, public pledges in the way. This commitment of die par- 
ty against a National Bank, and the disastrous results of its Experi- 
ment on the State Institutions, brought the party into the dilemma, 
from which it seemed to have no escape, but in shifting off, alto- 
gether, the duty of taking care of the currency. I was at Wheel- 
ing, in Virginia, in May of last year, when the Banks suspended 
payment ; and at the risk of some imputation of bad taste, I will 
refer to observations of mine, made then, to the citizens of that town, 
and published, in regard to the questions which that event would 
necessarily bring before the Country. I saw, at once, that we were 
at the commencement of a new era, and that a controversy must 
arise, which would greatly excite the community. 



367 



No sooner had the Slate Banks suspended, and among the rest 
those which were depositories of the Government, than a cry of 
fraud and treachery was raised against them, with no hetter reason, 
perhaps, than existed for that loud, and boisterous, and boastful 
confidence, with which the late Administration had spoken of their 
capacity of usefulness, and had assured the Country that its Ex- 
periment could not fail. But whether the suspension by the Banks 
was a matter of necessity with them, or not, the Administration, af- 
ter it had happened, seeing itself now shut out from the use of all 
Banks, by its own declared opinions, and the results of its own pol- 
icy, and seeing no means at hand for making another attempt at 
reforming the currency, turned a short corner, and in all due form 
abandoned the whole duty. From the time of the Veto to the 
Bank Charter, in 1832, the Administration had been like a man 
who had voluntarily abandoned a safe bottom, on deep waters, and, 
having in vain sought to support himself by laying hold on one and 
another piece of floating timber, chooses rather to go down, than 
to seek safety in returning to what he has abandoned. 

Seeing that it had deprived itself of the common means of regu- 
lating the currency, it now denied its obligation to do so ; declared 
it had nothing to do with the currency beyond coinage ; that it 
would take care of the revenues of Government, and, as for the rest, 
the People must look out for themselves. This decision thus evi- 
dently grew out of party necessity. Having deprived themselves 
of the ordinary and Constitutional means of performing their duty, 
they sought to avoid the responsibility by declaring that there was 
no such duty to perform. They have looked further into the Con- 
stitution, and examined it by daylight and by moonlight, and can- 
not find any such duty or obligation. Though General Jackson 
saw it, very plainly, during the whole course of his Presidency, it 
has now vanished, and the new Commentators can nowhere dis- 
cern a vestige of it. The present Administration, indeed, stood 
pledged to tread in the steps of its predecessor ; but here was one 
foot-print which it could not, or would not, occupy, or one stride too 
long for it to take. The Message, I had almost said the fatal Mes- 
sage, communicated to Congress in September, contained a formal, 
disavowal, by the Administration, of all power under the Constitu- 
tion to regulate the general actual currency of the Country. 

The President says, in that Message, that if he refrains from sug- 
gesting to Congress any specific plan for regulating the exchanges, 
relieving mercantile embarrassments, or interfering with the ordinary 
operations of foreign or domestic Commerce, it is from the conviction 
that such measures are not within the Constitutional provision of 
Government. 

How this could all be said, when the Constitution expressly gives 
to Congress the power to regulate Commerce, both foreign and do- 



368 

mestlc, I cannot conceive. But the Constitution was not to be tri- 
fled with, and the People are not to be trifled with. The Country, 
1 believe, by a great majority, is of opinion tliat this duty does be- 
long to Government, and ought to be exercised. All the new Ex- 
pounders have not been able to erase this general power over Com- 
merce, and all that belongs to Commerce. Tiieir fate, in this re- 
spect, is like that of him in ancient story. While endeavoring to 
tear up, and rend asunder the Constitution, its strong fibres have re- 
coiled, and caught them in the cleft. They experience 

" Milo's fearful end — 
Wedged in the timber which they strove to rend." 

Gentlemen, this Constitutional power can never be suiTcndered. 
We may as well give up the whole Commercial power at once, and 
throw every thing connected with it back upon the States. If Con- 
gress surrender the power, to whom shall it pass, or where shall it 
be lodged ? Shall it be left to six-and-twenty different Legislatures ? 
To eight hundred or a thousand unconnected Banks ? No, Gen- 
tlemen, to allow that authority to be surrendered, would be to aban- 
don the vessel of State, without pilot or helm, and to suffer her to 
roll; darkling, down the current of her fate. 

For the sake of avoiding all misapprehensions, on this most im- 
portant subject, I wish to state my own opinion, clearly, and in few 
words. I have never said, that it is an indispensable duty, in Con- 
gress, under all circumstances, to establish a National Bank. No 
such duty, certainly, is created by the Constitution, in express terms. 
I do not say ivhat particular measures are enjoined by the Consti- 
tution, in this respect. Congress has its discretion, and is left to its 
own judgment, as to the means most proper to be employed. But 
I say the general duty does exist. 

I maintain diat Congress is bound to take care, by some proper 
means, to secure a good currency for the People ; and that, while 
this duty remains unperformed, one great object of the Constitution 
is not attained. If we are to have as many different currencies as 
there are States, and these currencies are to be liable to perpetual 
fluctuation, it would be lolly to say that we had reached that secu- 
rity and uniformity in Commercial regulation, which we know it was 
the purpose of the Constitution to establish. 

The Banks may all resume to-morrow — I hope they will; but 
how much will this resumption accomplish ? It will doubtless af- 
ford good local currencies ; but will it give the Country any proper 
and safe paper currency, of equal and universal value ? Certainly 
it cannot, and will not. Will it bring back, for any length of time, 
exchanges to the state they were in, when there was a National 
Currency in existence? Certainly, in my opinion, it will not. We 



369 



may heap gold bags upon gold bags., we may create what securities, 
in the constitution of local Banks, we please, but we cannot give to 
any such Bank a character that shall insure the receipts of its 
notes, with equal readiness, every where throughout the valley of 
the INIississippi, and from the shores of the Gulf of Mexico to the 
St. Lawrence. Nothing can accomplish this, but an institution 
which is National in its character. The People desire to see, in 
their currency, the marks of this nationality. They like to see the 
spread Eagle, and where they see that they have confidence. 

Who, if he will look at the present state of things, is not wise 
enough to see, that there is much and deep cause for fear, in regard 
to the future, unless the Government will take the subject of curren- 
cy under its own control, as it ought to do. For one, I think I see 
trouble ahead, and 1 look for effectual prevention and remedy only 
to a just exercise of the powers of Congress. I look not wadiout 
apprehension upon the creation of numerous and powerful State In- 
stitutions, full of competition and rivalry, and under no common 
control. I look for other and often-repeated expansions of paper 
circulation, inflations of trade, and general excess ; and then, again, 
for other violent ebbinij-s of the swollen flood, endin"' in other sus- 
pensions. I see no steadiness, no security, till the Government of 
the United States shall fulfil its constitutional duty. I shall be dis- 
appointed, certainly, if, for any length of time, the benefits of a 
sound and uniform convertible paper currency can be enjoyed, 
while the whole subject is left to six-and-twenty States, and to 
eight hundred local Banks, all anxious for the use of money, and 
the use of credit, in the highest degree. 

As I have already said, these sub-Treasury schemes are but con- 
trivances for getting away from a disagreeable duty. And, after all, 
there are scarcely any two of the friends of the Administration, 
\\ ho can agree upon the same sub-Treasury scheme. Each has a 
plan of his own. One man requires that all Banks shall be discard- 
ed, and nothing but gold and silver shall be received for revenue. 
Another will exclaim, "That won't do — that's not my thunder." 
Another would prohibit all the small notes, and another would ban- 
ish all the large ones. Another is for a special deposit scheme — 
for making the banks sub-Treasuries and depositories — for making 
suh-Treasuries of tlie broken, rotten, treacherous Banks! — for tak- 
ing bank notes, tying them up with red strings, depositing them in 
the vaults, — and paying them out again. 

It has been the proposition of the Administration, to separate the 
money of the Government from the money of the People ; to 
secure a good medium of payments, for the use of the Treasury, in 
collecting and disbursing revenue, and to take no care of the gen- 
eral circulation of the Country. This is the sum of its policy. 
Looking upon this whole scheme but as an abandonment of 
VOL. III. 47 



370 

clear Constitutional obligation, I have opposed it, in every form in 
which it has been presented. My object, as I have already said, 
and that of those with whom I acted, has been to prevent the sanc- 
tion of all or any of these new projects, by authority of law, until 
another Congress should be elected, which might express the will 
of the People, formed after the present state of things arose. In 
this object we have succeeded. If we have done little positive 
good, we have at least prevented the introduction and estahlish- 
ment of new theories, and new contrivances, and we have preserved 
the Constitution, in this respect, entire. No surrender or aban- 
donment of important powers is, as yet, endorsed on the parchment 
of that Instrument. No new clause is appended to it, making its 
provisions a mere 7ion obstante to Executive discretion. It has 
been snatched from the furnace — from this furnace of party conten- 
tion, heated seven times hotter than it has been wont to be heated, 
— the Constitution has been rescued, and we may hold it up to tiie 
People, this day, and tell them that even the smell of the fire is not 
upon it. 

But now, Gentlemen, a stronger arm must be put forth. A 
mightier guardianship must now interfere. Time has been gained 
for public discussion, and consideration, and the great result is now 
with the People. That they will ultimately decide right, I have 
the fullest confidence. Party attachment, and party patronage, it 
is true, may do much to delay the results of general opinion, but 
they cannot long resist the convictions of a whole People. It is 
most certain that, up to the present hour, this new policy has been 
most unfavorably received. State after State has fallen off from 
the ranks of the Administration, on account of its promulgation, 
and of the persevering attempt to raise upon it a system of legal, 
practical administration. The Message of September completed 
the list of causes necessary to produce a popular revolution in sen- 
timent in Maine, Ohio, New Jersey, and New York. Since the 
proposition was renewed, at the late session, we have witnessed a 
similar revolution in Connecticut and Louisiana, and very impor- 
tant changes, perhaps equivalent to revolutions, in the strength of 
parties in other States. There is little reason to doubt, if all the 
Electors of the Country could be polled to-day, that a great and 
decisive majority would be found against all this strange policy. 
Yet, Gentlemen, I do not consider the question, by any means, as 
decided. The policy is not abandoned. It is to be persisted in. 
Its friends look for a reaction in public opinion. I think I under- 
stand their hopes and expectations. They rely on this reaction. 
Every thing is to be accomplished by reaction. A month ago, this 
reaction was looked for to show itself in Louisiana. Altogether 
disappointed in that quarter, the friends of the policy now stretch 
their hopes to the other extremity of the Union, and look for it in 



371 

Maine. In my opinion, Gentlemen, there can be no reaction 
■which can reconcile the people of this Country to the policy at 
present | ursued. 

There must, in my opinion, be a change. If the Administration 
will not change its course, it must be changed itself. But I repeat, 
that the decision now lies with the People ; and in that decision, 
when it shall be fairly pronounced, I shall cheerfully acquiesce. 
We ought to address ourselves, on this great and vital question, to 
the whole People, to the candid and intelligent of all parties. We 
should exhibit its magnitude ; its essential consequence to the Con- 
stitution ; and its infinite superiority to all ordinary strifes of party. 
We may well and truly say, that it is a new question ; that the 
great mass of the People, of any party, is not committed on it ; and 
it is our duty to invoke all true patriots, all who wish for the well- 
being of the Government and the Country, to resist these Experi- 
ments upon the Constitution, and this wild and strange departure 
from our hitherto approved and successful policy. 

At the same time, Gentlemen, while we thus invoke aid from all 
quarters, we must not suffer ourselves to be deceived. We must 
yield to no expedients, to no schemes and projects, unknown to the 
Constitution, and alien to our own history and our habits. We are 
to be saved, if saved at all, in the Constitution, not out of it. 
None can aid us, none can aid the Country, by any thing in the na- 
ture of mere political project, or any devices supply the place of regu- 
lar Constitutional administration. Any man who, in the present cri- 
sis of affairs, shall set up his own ingenuity, or follow his own whim 
and caprice, instead of looking to the Constitution itself, for relief 
and safety, will exhibit the foolhardiness of the person, exhibited 
in one of the old Mysteries which undertook to represent the flood, 
who had ascended to the top of the highest eminence he could 
reach, and when, even there, the swelling waters bad reached to 
his chin, told Noah to get along with his old craft, for he did not 
think there would be much of a storm, after all. 

It was to prevent, or to remedy, such a state of things as now 
exists, that the Constitution was formed and adopted. The time 
when there is a disordered cun-ency, and a distracted commerce, is 
the very time when its agency is required ; and I hope those who 
wish for a restoration of general prosperity, will look steadily to the 
light which the Constitution sheds on the path of duty. 

As to you and me, Fellow-Citizens, our course is not doubtful. 
However others may decide, we hold on to the Constitution, and to 
all its powers, as they have been authentically expounded, and 
practically and successfully experienced, for a long period. Our 
interests, our habits, our affections, all bind us to the principles of 
our Union as our leading and guiding star. 

Gentlemen^ I cannot resume my seat without expressing, again, 



372 

rny sense of gratitude for your generous appreciation of my services. 
I have the pleasure to know tliat this occasion originated with the 
Boston Mechanics, a body always distinguished, always honored, 
always patriotic, from the first dawn of the Revolution to the 
present time. Who is here, whose father has not told him — there 
are some here old enough to know it themselves — that they were 
Boston Mechanics whose blood reddened State Street, on the mem- 
orable fifth of March. And as the tendencies of the Revolution 
went forward, and times grew more and more critical, it was the 
Boston Mechanics who composed, to a great extent, the crowds 
which frequented the Old Whig Head Quarters in Union Street, 
assembled, as occasion required Patriots to come together, in the 
Old South, or filled to suffocation this Immortal Cradle of Ameri- 
can Liberty. 

When Independence was achieved, their course was alike intelli- 
gent, wise, and patriotic. They saw, as quick and as fully as any 
men in the Country, the infirmities of the Old Confederation, and 
discerned the means by which they might be remedied. From the 
first, they were ardent and zealous friends of the present Constitu- 
tion. They saw the necessity of united councils, and common reg- 
ulations, for all the States, in matters of trade and commerce. 
They saw, what indeed is obvious enough, that their interest was 
completely involved with that of the Mercantile class, and other 
classes ; and that nothing but one general, uniform system of com- 
merce, trade, and imports, could possibly give to the business and 
industry of the Country vigor and prosperity. When the Conven- 
tion for acting on the Constitution sat in this city, and the result of 
its deliberations was doubtful, the Mechanics assembled at the 
Green Dragon, and passed the most firm and spirited Resolutions 
in favor of the Constitution; and when these Resolutions were 
presented to the Boston Delegation, by a Committee of which 
Colonel Revere was Chairman, they were asked by one of the 
members, how many Mechanics were at the meeting ; to which 
Colonel Revere answered, " More than there are stars in heaven." 
With Statesman-like sagacity, they foresaw the advantages of a 
United Government. They celebrated, dierefore, the adoption of 
the Constitution, by rejoicings and festivals, such, perhaps, as have 
not since been witnessed. Emblematic representations, long pro- 
cessions of all the trades, and whatever else might contribute to the 
joyous demonstration of gratified patriotism, distinguished the occa- 
sion. Gentlemen, I can say with great truth, that an occasion 
intended to manifest respect to me, could have originated no 
where with more satisfaction to myself than with the Mechanics of 
Boston. 

I am bound to make my acknowledgments to other classes 
of citizens who assemble here to join with the Mechanics in the 



373 

purpose of this meeting. 1 see with pleasure the successors and 
followers of the Mathers, of Clarke, and of Cooper ; and I am grati- 
fied, also, by the presence of those of my own profession in whose 
immediate presence and society so <i;reat a portion of my life has 
been passed. It is natural that I should value highly this proof of 
their regard. We have walked the same paths, we have listened 
to the same oracles, we have been guided, together, by the lights 
of Dana, and Parsons, and Sewall, and Parker, not to mention liv- 
ing names, not unknown or un honored, either at home or abroad. 
As 1 honor the Profession, so I honor and respect its worthy mem- 
bers, as defenders of truth, as supporters of law and liberty, as men 
who ever act on steady principles of honor and justice, and from 
whom no one., with a right cause, is turned away, though he may 
come clothed in ra";s. 

Mingling in this vast assembly, I perceive, Gentlemen, many 
citizens, who bear an appellation which is honored, and which de- 
serves to be honored, wherever a spirit of enlightened liberality, 
humanity, and charity, finds regard and approbation among men — I 
mean the appellation of Boston Merchants. In a succession of 
generations, tliey have contributed, uniformly, to great objects of 
public interest and advantage. They have founded institutions of 
Learning, of Piety, and of Charity. They have explored the field 
of human misfortune and calamity ; they have sought out the causes 
of vice, and want, and ignorance, and have sought them only that 
they might be removed and extirpated- They have poured out 
their wealth, the acquisition of their industry and honorable enter- 
prise, like water, that that might relieve the necessities of poverty, 
adniinister comfort to the wretched, soothe the ravings of distressed 
insanity, open the eyes of the blind, unstop the ears of the deaf, 
and shed the light of knowledge, and the reforming influences of 
relii-'ion, where ignorance and crime have abounded. How am I 
to comnjend, not only single acts of benevolence, but whole lives 
of benevolence, such as this? May He reward them — may that 
Almighty Being reward them, in whose irreversible judgment, in 
that day which is to come, the merit even of the widow's mite 
shall outweigh the advantages of all the pomp and grandeur of the 
world! 

Gentlemen, Citizens of Boston, I have been in the midst of you 
for twenty years. It is nearly sixteen years, since, quite un- 
expectedly to myself, you saw fit to require public service at my 
hands, and to place me in the National Legislature. If, in that 
long period, you have found, in my public conduct, something 
to be approved, and more to be forgiven than to be reprehended, 
and if we meet here, to-day, better friends for so many years of 
acquaintance and mutual confidence, I may well esteem myself 
happy in the enjoyment of a high revvard- 

FF 



374 

I offer you, again, Fellow-Citizens, my grateful acknowledgments, 
and all my sincere and cordial good wishes ; and I propose to you — 

" The City of Boston : May it continue to be the Head 
Quarters of Good Principles, till the blood of the Revo- 
lutionary Patriots shall have run through a thousand 
generations ! " 



V 



R E 31 A R K S 



IN THE SENATE OF THE UMTED STATES, ON THE BILL TO GRADU- 
ATE THE PRICE OF THE PUBLIC L.\NDS, JANUARY 14, 1839. 



On the 14th of January, on the question of postponing the bill indefinitely, 
moved by Mr. Rives — 

Mr. Webster rose, and said, that he had hardly time to look 
at the bill before he was called on to vote on the question of its in- 
definite postponement. He should, however, take the occasion to 
say a few words, principally because it was known, on some of the 
subjects connected with the public lands, he had the misfortune to 
differ from those with whom he generally acted. He well recol- 
lected that his attention was earnestly called to this subject by Mr. 
IMadison, at the close of his administration, who remarked that the 
Northern and Atlantic members of Congress had been quite too 
inattentive to it — that it was a great interest. And it might show 
how much even Mr. Madison underrated this interest, when he (Mr. 
Webster) stated that Mr. Madison's remark was, that he had no 
doubt, under a proper administration, the public lands would yield 
annually a millioii and a Ao//' of dollars. 

Mr. W. said the earliest occasion for his taking a part in the 
deliberations of Congress on the public lands was the first session 
he took his seat in the Senate. A graduation bill was then before 
Congress, and the whole subject was much discussed. He, at that 
time, heard doctrines and sentiments advanced which struck him 
very strangely. He recollected an able and elaborate argument by 
a member from Indiana, designed to prove that all the new lands in 
any new State became the property of that State by the mere fact 
of her admission into the Union. He heard a speech in favor of the 
same sentiment, from a member from Alabama, so distinguished for 
legal and constitutional attainment, as since to have been made 
a Judge of the Supreme Court of the United States. These doc- 
trines and opinions he had certainly opposed with the utmost of his 
power, as having no foundation in constitutional law, and as sub- 
versive of all justice and equity to the States. They did not obtain 
much favor with the country, and, after a while, appear to have 
been abandoned. But, then, another proposition had subsequently 
arisen in another quarter, in his opinion equally objectionable, which 

375 



376 

was, that, though the public lands rightfully belonged to this GoV' 
eminent, yet Congress ought to cede them to the States in which 
they lie. This, also, he opposed, and should continue to oppose^ 
because he regarded it as palpable injustice to the States generally^ 
and a direct violation of the trust upon which the lands had been 
originally conveyed to Congress. 

In regard to both these propositions, Mr. Webster said, that, 
while he had exerted himself to maintain what he thought the true 
interests of the country, he had the pleasure of concurring with those 
with whom he generally acted on political subjects. With regard, 
however, to some subordinate questions as to the tnode of adminis- 
tering this trust, he had differed from them last session on the pre- 
emption bill. He was in favor of that bill. He wished then, and' 
wished now, that the bill had been more perfect, so as to carry out 
more fully and completely the intentions of Congress. And, on 
this subject of graduation, he had expressed opinions at an early 
day, in which bis friends did not concur. In the session of 1827, 
1828, before referred to, he had moved to amend the bill then pend- 
ing by striking out all after the enacting clause, and inserting what 
he would then read. Mr. Webster then read the following: — 

" Further to amend the bill by striking out all after the enacting clause, 
and inserting the following: — 

" That, at any time from and after the first day of January, anno Domini 
one thousand eight hundred and twenty-nine, such portions of the public 
lands as shall have been offered at public sale, and shall also have been 

subject to entry at private sale, for the term of years, and shall 

still remain unsold, shall thenceforward be offered at private sale in parcels, 

confonning to sectional divisions and snbdivasions, at the rate of 

per acre. 

" Sec. 2. And he it further enadect, Thut it shall and may be lawful for 
any head of a family, young man over the age of twenty-one years, or widow,, 
not having received a donation of land from the United States, and wishing 
to become an actual settler on any parcel of public land authorized by the 

first section of titis act to be sold at per acre, and not exceeding in; 

quantity the amount of one quarter section, to demand and receive, from the- 
proper register and receiver, a written pe-i-mission to- settle on the same, upon 

payment, to be made to the proper receiver, of the sum of cents per 

acre ; and if such ])erson, so applying for and' receiving such permission, 
shall fortliwitli settle on the said land, and lie or she, or his or her heirs or 
legal representatives, shall cultivate tlie same for five successive years, and 
shall be a citizen or citizens of the United States at the end of that time, then^ 
on proper proof being made, before tlie register and receiver, of such settle- 
ment, cultivation, and citizenship, a patent shall issue for tlie said land to the 
person who received such permission, or his or her heirs or legal representa- 
tives. And the faith of the United States is hereby pledged to all persons 
who may settle on the public lands, according to tlie provisions of this section, 
that no dispensation shall, at any time, be granted to any individual from 
complying Avith the substantial conditions herein prescribed. And if due 
proof of settlement, cultivation, and citizenship, as herein required, be not 

made witliin years next after the expiration of said five years, 

the said land shall again be subject to entry at private sale, as land be- 
longing to the United States." 



377 

Mr. Webster said, the Senate would take notice that the bill 
then pending was a bill " to graduate the price of the public lands, 
to make donations thereof to actual settlers, and to cede the 
refuse to the States in which they lie;" that his amendment em- 
braced two objects — the graduation of price, and the donation to 
actual settlers, but that it rejected all cessions to the States. It 
would be noticed, too, that this graduation proposed but one step, 
and to stop there. As to donations to actual settlers, he had often 
expressed the opinion, and still entertained it, that it would have 
been a wise policy in Government, from the first, to have made a 
donation of half a quarter or one quarter section to every actual 
settler, the head of a family, upon condition of habitation and culti- 
vation ; that this would have been far better, and freer from abuse, 
than any system of preemption. 

And, as io graduation, what was it? It simply meant a reduc- 
tion of the price, in order to make sale of lands that would not sell 
at the existing price. Certainly it could be no matter of principle 
that all lands, good and bad, should be held at the same rate. It 
might be expedient or inexpedient, but no principle was involved in 
the matter. The law of 1820, which reduced the price of all lands 
from ,^2 to ?^l 25 an acre, was itself a graduation bill, and a most 
important one, and its effects have been generally thought to be 
useful. When lands have been a long time in market at a certain 
price, and have not commanded it, why should they not be put at 
a price at which they will sell ? In all this matter, he had always 
felt the conviction that the real object of the conveyance of these 
lands to the United States was, that they should be sold and settled. 
Sale and settlement were the great ends in view. He did not mean 
that they were to be sold in a hurry, or crowded on the market be- 
yond the demand. But they were to be sold at reasonable prices, 
as fast as the country could be settled. In some cases, lands had 
been in market for twenty years. They were inferior lands, and 
could not be sold at the general price. Why should they, then, not 
be sold at such a price as they would bring ? Was this not what 
an individual would do who held lands in trust to sell ? He knew 
very well that where these poorer lands were mixed in with better 
lands which had been sold, the sale and cultivation of these better 
lands in the neighborhood had raised the price of the poorer lands ; 
so that, in such places, some of these poorer lands were disposed of 
every year at the common price. Yet, even here, the sales were 
inconsiderable and lingering. 

But, then, there were other causes which formed the main occa- 
sion for graduation of prices. They were when very large tracts of 
lands were altogether of very inferior quality. Such large tracts 
did exist in several of the South-Western States — in Mississippi, 
Arkansas, Louisiana, and Alabama. There was reason to believe 

VOL. III. 48 FF* 



378 

that large territories of this description would not sell, at the present 
price, in half a century, nor a century. This state of things is in- 
convenient to the States, without being useful to the United States. 
While held by the United States, these lands are not subject to 
State taxation. They contribute nothing to the burdens thrown on 
other lands. A great proprietor is in the State, holding large terri- 
tory, exempt from common burdens. Let it be remembered (Mr. 
Webster repeated) that our trust is to sell and settle, not to hold 
permanently. It is to sell and settle, and to apply the proceeds to 
purposes beneficial to all the People of the United States. He was 
against all notion of permanent holding. He had always been op- 
posed to the policy of reserving lands supposed to contain mines, 
with a view of leasing them, and deriving rent to Government. 
His opinion had always been that these lands should be examined, 
explored, their true value ascertained and disclosed, and then the 
lands sold, like other lands, to the highest bidder. 

He said that, when he brought forward his proposition, in April, 
1828, most of his political friends voted for it. But it was rejected 
by a majority of the Senate ; and the bill then before the Senate, 
being on its passage, was also rejected. 

Mr. Webster said he had now stated, in very few words, the 
history of his opinion on this subject of graduation. He hoped it 
was apparent, at least, that he had embraced no new sentiments 
suddenly. He thought, as he always had thought, graduation was 
a question of degree. It was wise or unwise as it was slow and 
reasonable, or as it was sudden and extravagant. He was for 
a slow graduation. He had proposed but one step. He was for 
trying that fii-st, and for seeing the effect. He had felt confident, 
and still felt perfectly confident, that there were vast tracts of lands 
now lying within the limits of some of the States, that would not be 
disposed of for some generations to come without a reduction of 
price. If the present bill should be made conformable to his prop- 
osition in 1828, he should vote for it. But he doubted exceed- 
ingly whether a bill satisfactoiy to any part of the House could be 
carried through Congress at this session. There was beginning to 
be a good deal of excitement on the subject in the country. The 
doctrines that had been set up had at length alarmed the States and 
the People. For his part, he was glad to see this roused attention. 
He was glad to see the public mind thus awakened. The public 
lands were a fund for the use of all the People of the United States ; 
and while he wished that this fund should be administered in a s|)irit 
of the utmost kindness to the actual settlers and the People of the 
new States, he should consent to no trifling with it, no wasting of 
it, no cession of it, no diversion of it in any manner from that 
general public use for which it was created. 



ARGUMENT 



i:S THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UJNITED STATES, FEBRUARY 
9, 1839, IN THE GREAT APPEAL CASE FROM THE DISTRICT OF 
ALABAMA. 

ft 

The record (said Mr. Webster) presents this case: — 

The Bank of the United States is a corporation created by a 
law of tlie State of Pennsylvania. By that act tiie bank, among 
other functions, possesses that of deahng in bills of exchange. In 
the month of January, 1837, having funds in Mobile, this bank, 
through the instrumentality of its agent, IMr. Poe, purchased a bill 
of exchange to remit to New York. This bill, drawn at Mobile 
upon New York, and endorsed by Wm. D. Primrose, the defend- 
ant in this case, not having been paid either at New York or by 
the drawer, the Bank of the United States instituted this suit in the 
Circuit Court of Alabama, to recover the money due on the bill. 

In the court below, it was decided that the contract by Poe in 
behalf of the bank was void, on two grounds ; — Jirst, because it 
was a contract made by the Bank of the United States, in the State 
of Alabama ; whereas a bank incorporated by the State of Pennsyl- 
vania can do no act out of the limits of Pennsylvania; — secondly, 
because Alabama has a bank of her own, the capital of which is 
owned by the State herself, which is authorized to buy and sell ex- 
change, and from the profits of which she derives her revenue ; and, 
the purchase of bills of exchange being a banking operation, the 
purcliase of such bills by others, at least by any corporation, although 
there is no express law forbidding it, is against the policy of the State 
of Alabama, as it may be inferred from the provisions of the consti- 
tution of that State, and the law made in conformity thereto. 

It is admitted that the parties are rightfully in court. It is ad- 
mitted, also, that the defendant is a citizen of Alabama, and that all 
the citizens who compose the corporation of the Bank of the United 
States are citizens of the State of Pennsylvania, or of some other 
State besides Alabama. The question is. Can they, as a corpora- 
tion, do any act within the State of Alabama ? In other words, is 
there any thing in the constitution or laws of the State of Alabama 
which prohibits, or rightfully can proiiibit, citizens of otiicr States, 
or corporations created by other States, from buying and selling bills 
of exchange in the State of Alabama? 

379 



380 

In his argument, yesterday, for the defendant in this case, my 
learned friend (Mr. Van de Graff) asked certain questions which I 
propose to answer. 

Can this bank (said he) transfer itself into the State of Alabama ? 
Certainly not. 

Can it establish a branch in the State of Alabama, there to per- 
form the same duties, and transact the same business, in all respects, 
as in the State of Pennsylvania? Certainly not. 

Can it exercise in the State of Alabama any of its corporate 
functions ? Certainly it can. For my learned friend admits its 
right to sue in that State, which is a right that it possesses solely 
by the authority of the Pennsylvania law by which the bank is 
incorporated. 

We thus clear the case of some difficulty by arriving at this 
point, — the admission on both sides that there are certain powers 
which the bank can exercise within the State of Alabama, and 
certain others which it cannot exercise. 

The question is, then, whether the bank can exercise, within the 
State of Alabama, this very power of buying a bill of exchange. 

Our proposition is, that she can buy a bill of exchange within the 
State of Alabama ; because there are no corporate functions necessa- 
ry to the act of buying of a bill of exchange ; because buying and 
selling exchange is a thing open to all the world, in Alabama as well 
as every where else ; because, although the power to buy and sell 
bills of exchange be conferred upon this bank by its charter, and it 
could not buy or sell a bill of exchange without that provision in 
its charter, yet this power was conferred upon it, as were other 
powers conferred by its charter, to place the bank upon the same 
footing as an individual — to give it, not a monopoly, not an exclu- 
sive privilege, in this respect, but simply the same power which 
the members of the corporation, as individuals, have an unques- 
tionable right to exercise. The banker, the broker, the merchaiit, 
the manufacturer, all buy bills of exchange as individuals : the in- 
dividuals wlio compose a corporation may do it ; and we say that 
they may do it, though they do it in the name of, and for, the 
corporation. We say, undoubtedly, that they cannot acquire 
power, under the Pennsylvania charter, to do acts in Alabama 
which they cannot do as individuals ; but we say that the cor- 
poration may do, in their corporate character, in Alabama, all such 
acts, authorized by their charter, as the members thereof would 
have a right to perform as individuals. 

The learned counsel on the other side was certainly not disposed 
to concede, gratuitously, any thing in this case. Yet he did admit 
that there might be a case in which the acts of a corporation, cre- 
ated by one State, if done in another State, would be valid. He 
supposed the case of a railroad company in one State sending an 



381 

agent Into another State to buy iron for the construction of the road. 
Without conceding expressly the point of law in that case, he 
admitted that it would be a case very different from the present ; 
and he gave as a reason for this admission, that it would be a 
single special act, necessary to enable the coqioration to execute 
its functions within the State to which it belonged, and in this 
respect differing from the case now under consideration. In what 
circumstance, it may well be asked, do the cases differ? One act 
only of the corporation of the Bank of the United States is set 
forth in this record, and that act stands singly, and by itself 
There is no proof before the court that the corporation ever bought 
another bill of exchange than that which is the subject of this suit. 
Transactions of this nature must necessarily come one by one 
before this court, when they come at all, and must stand or fall on 
their individual merits, and not upon the supposition of any policy 
which would recognize the legality of a single act, and deny the 
validity of the dealings, or transactions, generally, of which that act 
is a part. 

Then, as to the other reason stated by my learned friend in sup- 
port of the idea that such a purchase of iron might be supported, — 
he says it is because that, in that case, the purchase, being made 
abroad solely to enable the corporation to perform its functions at 
home, might be considered legal, under the law of comity from one 
Stale to another. 

Now, (said Mr. Webster,) that sup}X)sed case is precisely the 
case before the court. Here is the case of a corj)oration established 
in Philadelphia, one of whose lawful functions is to deal in ex- 
change. A Philadelphia merchant, having complied with the 
order of his correspondent in Alabama, draws a bill upon him lor 
the amount due in consequence, goes to the Bank of the United 
States, and sells the bill. Tlie funds thus realized by the bank 
from the purchase of bills of exchange accumulate in Alabama. 
How are those funds to be brought back by the Philadelphia cor- 
poration within its control ? The bank has unquestioned power to 
deal in bills of exchange. Can there be such a thini^f as deallnir in 
exchange, with a power to act only on one end of the line ? Cer- 
tainly not. How, then, is the bank in Philadelphia to get its funds 
back from Alabama ? Suppose tliat it were to send an agent there, 
and buy specie. Can the bank ship the specie ? Can it sign an 
agreement for the freight, insurance, and charires of brin"-ino^ it 
round ? To do that would be an act of commerce, of navigation, 
— not of exchange. A power conferred upon a bank to deal in 
exchange would be perfectly nugatory, unless accompanied by a 
power also to direct its funds to be remitted. The practical result 
of a contrary construction would be, that this Pennsylvania bank 
may carry on exchange between Philadelphia and Reading, or 



382 

Philadelphia and Lancaster, but not by possibility with Mobile, or 
any other city or place in the South, or even with New York, 
Trenton, or Baltimore. Out of Pennsylvania it could only buy 
and remit. Tt could 2:et no return. An exchange that runs but 
one way ! What sort of an exchange is that ? 

[Having cleared the case of some of these generalities, Mr. Web- 
ster proceeded to the exposition of what he considered a constitu- 
tional, American view of the question.] 

The record of this case finds that these plaintiffs, the members 
of the corporation of the Bank of the United States, are citizens 
of other States, and that the defendant is a citizen of Alabama. 
Now, in the first place, (to begin with the beginning of this part of 
the question,) what are the relations which the individual citizens 
of one State bear to the individual citizens of any other State of 
this Union ? 

How did the matter stand before the Revolution ? When these 
States were colonies, what was the relation between the inhabitants 
of the different colonies ? Certainly it was not that of aliens. They 
were not, indeed, all citizens of the same colony; but certainly they 
were fellow-subjects, and owed a common allegiance; and it was 
not competent for the legislative power to say that the citizens of 
any one of the colonies should be alien to the others. This was the 
state of the case until the 4th of July, 1776, when this common 
allegiance was thrown off. After a short interval of two years, 
after the renunciation of that allegiance, the articles of confederation 
were adopted ; and now let us see what was the relation between 
the citizens of the different States by the Articles of Confederation. 
The Government had become a confederation. But it was some- 
thing more, much more. It was not merely an alliance between 
distinct governments for the common defence and general welfare, 
but it recognized and confirmed a community of interest, of charac- 
ter, and of privileges, between the citizens of the several States. 

" The better to secure and perpetuate mutual friendship and 
intercourse among the people of the different States in this Union," 
said the 4th of the Articles of Confederation, "the free inhabitants 
of each of these States shall be entitled to all the privileges and 
immunities of free citizens in the several States ; and the people of 
each State shall have free ingress and egress to and from any other 
State, and shall enjoy therein all the privileges of trade and com- 
merce," &ic. This placed the inhabitants of each State on equal 
ground as to the rights and privileges which they might exercise in 
every other State. So things stood at the adoption of the Consti- 
tution of the United States. The article of the present Constitu- 
tion, in fewer words and more general and comprehensive terms, 
confirms this community of rights and privileges in the following 
form: — "The citizens of eacli State shall be entitled to all the 



L 



3S3 

privileges and immunities of citi^jens in the several States." How- 
ever obvious and general this provision may be, it will be found to 
have some particular application to the case now before the court ; 
the article in the Confederation serving as the expounder of this 
article in die Constitution. 

That this article in the Constitution does not confer on the cit- 
izens of each State political riglits in every other State, is admitted. 
A citizen of Pennsylvania cannot go into Virginia and vote at an 
election in that State ; though, when he has acquired a residence in 
Virginia, and is otherwise qualified, as required by her Constitution, 
he becomes, without formal adoption as a citizen of Virginia, a citi- 
zen of that State politically. But, for the purposes of trade, com- 
merce, buying and selling, it is evidently not in the power of any 
State to impose any hinderance or embarrassment, or lay any excise, 
toll, duty, or exclusion, upon citizens of other States, to place them, 
coming there, upon a different footing from her own citizens. 

There is one provision, then, in the Consdtution, by which citizens 
of one State may trade in another without hinderance or embarrass- 
ment. 

There is another provision of the Constitution by which citizens 
of one State are entitled to sue citizens of any other State in 
the courts of the United States. 

This is a very plain and clear right under the Consthution ; but 
it is not more clear than the preceding. 

Here, then, are two distinct constitutional provisions conferring 
power upon citizens of Pennsylvania and every other State, as to 
what they may do in Alabama or any other State : citizens of other 
States may trade in Alabama in whatsoever is lawful to citizens of 
Alabama ; and if, in the course of their dealings, they have claims 
on citizens of Alabama, they may sue in Alabama in the courts of 
the United States. This is American, constitutional law, independ- 
ent of all comity whatever. 

By the decisions of this court, it has been settled that this right to 
sue is a right which may be exercised in the name of a corporation. 
Here is one of their rights, then, which may be exercised in Alabama 
by citizens of another State in the name of a corporation. If citi- 
zens of Pennsylvania can exercise in Alabama the right to sue, in 
the name of a corporation, what hinders them from exercising in the 
same manner this other constitutional right, the right to trade 1 If 
it be the established right of persons in Pennsylvania to sue in Ala- 
bama in the name of a corporation-, why may they not do any other 
lawful act in the name of a corporation ? If no reason to the con- 
trary can be given, then the law in the one case is the law also in 
the other case. 

My learned friend says, indeed, that suing and making a contract 
are different things. True ; but this argument, so far as it has any 



384 

force, makes against his cause ; for it is a much more distinct exer- 
cise of corporate power to bring a suit, than by an agent to make a 
purchase. What does the law take to be true when it says that a 
corporation of one State may sue in another? Why, that the cor- 
poration is there, in court, ready to submit to the court's decree, a 
party on its record. But in the case of the purchase of the bill of 
exchange, such as is the subject of this suit, what is assumed ? No 
more than that George Poe bought a bill of exchange, and paid 
the value for it on account of his employers in Philadelphia, So 
far from its being a more natural right for a corporation to be allowed 
to sue, it is a more natural right to be allowed to trade, in a State in 
which the corporation does not exist. What is the distinction ? 
Buying a bill of exchange is said to be an act, and, therefore, 
the corporation could not do it in Alabama. Is not a suit an act ? 
Is it not doing? Does it not, in truth, involve many acts ? 

The truth is, that this argument against the power of a corpo- 
ration to do acts beyond the territorial jurisdiction of the authority 
by which it is created, is refuted by all history as well as by 
plain reason. 

What have all the great corporations in England been doing 
for centuries back? The English East India Company, as far 
back as the reign of Elizabeth, has been trading all over the 
Eastern world. That company traded in Asia before Great Britain 
had established any territorial government there, and in other parts 
of the world where England never pretended to any territorial au- 
thority. The Bank of England, established in 1694, has been 
always trading and dealing in exchanges and bullion with Hamburg, 
Amsterdam, and other marts of Europe, Numerous other corpora- 
tions have iDcen created in England for the purpose of exercising 
power over matters and things in territories wherein the pow er of 
England has never been exerted. The whole commercial world 
is full of such corporations, exercising similar powers, beyond the 
territorial jurisdiction within which they have legal existence. 

I say, then, that the right, secured to the people of Pennsyl- 
vania, to sue in any other State in the name of a corporation, is no 
more clear than this other right of such a corporation to trade in any 
other State ; nor even so clear : it is a farther-fetched legal pre- 
sumption, or a much greater extent of national courtesy or coniity, 
to suppose a foreign corporation actually in court, in its legal exist- 
ence, with its legal attributes, and acting in its own name, than it is 
to allow an ordinary act of trade, done by its agent, on its own 
account, to be a valid transaction. 

Mr. Webster here referred to an opinion of this court directly bear- 
ing on this question. It was in the case of the Bank of the United 
States vs. Deveanx, decided in 1809. The bank here mentioned 
was the first Bank of the United States, which had not, like the last, 



385 

express authority given in its charter to sue in the courts of the 
United States. It sued, therefore, as this plaintiff sues, in its name 
as a corporation ; but with an avennent, as here, that its members 
were citizens of Pennsylvania, the action being brought against a 
citizen of Georgia. The only question was, whether the plaintiffs 
might not exercise their constitutional right to sue in the courts of 
the United States, although they appeared in the name of their 
Pennsylvania corporation; and the court decided that they might. 
" Substantially and essentially," said Chief Justice Marshall, " the 
parties in such a case, where the members of the corporation are 
aliens, or citizens of a different State from the opposite party, 
come within the spirit and terms of the jurisdiction conferred by 
the Constitution on the national tribunals." "That corporations 
composed of citizens are considered by the Legislature as citizens, 
under certain circumstances, is to be strongly inferred from the 
registering acts. It never could be intended that an American 
registered vessel, abandoned to an insurance company composed of 
citizens, should lose her character as an American vessel ; and yet 
this would be the consequence of declaring that the members of the 
corporation were, to every intent and purpose, out of view, and 
merged in the corporation." 

The argument here is, that citizens may exercise their rights 
of suing, as such citizens, in the name of their corporation ; be- 
cause, in such a name, the law recognizes them as competent 
to engage in transactions, hold property, and enjoy rights proper 
for them as citizens. 

If the court agree in this language of its own opinion as far back 
as the year 1S09, it must be admitted that the rights of the people 
of Pennsylvania, as citizens of the United States, are not merged in 
the act of incorporation by which they are associated, and under 
which they are parties to this suit. If there ever was a human be- 
ing that did not argue to the obscure from the more obscure, it was 
certainly the late chief justice of the United States. And what 
is his argument to prove that the citizens of one State may sue in 
another by a corporate name? It is, as I have said, that they may 
sue by a corporate name, because they can do acts out of court by 
a corporate name ; whilst, directly reversing this conclusion, it has 
been held in this case, in the court below, that, whilst a corporation 
of one State may rightfully sue in another State, it cannot do any 
other act therein. 

In this view of the case, (said Mr. Webster,) I see no occasion to 
invoke the law of comity or international courtesy to our aid. Here 
our case stands, independently of that law, on American ground, as 
an American question. 

Now, as to the reason of the case. What possible difference can 
it make, if these citizens of Pennsylvania can trade, or buy and sell 

VOL. III. 49 GG 



386 

bills, in Alabama, whether the trading, or buying and selling, be 
under one agency or another ? That Poe (the agent of the Bank 
of the United States at Mobile) could, under a power of attorney 
from a citizen of Philadelphia, buy and sell bills of exchange in 
Alabama, will not be denied. If, without an act of incorporation, 
several citizens of Philadelphia should form an association to buy 
and sell bills of exchange, with five directors or managers of its con- 
cerns, those five directors may send as many agents as they please 
into other States to buy bills of exchange, Sic. Having thus formed 
themselves into this associated company, and appointed agents for 
the purpose of transacting tiieir business, if they should go one step 
further, and obtain a charter from Pennsylvania, that their meetings 
and proceedings may be more regular, and the acts of the associa- 
tion more methodical, what would be the difference, in the eye of 
reason, between the acts of the members of such a corporation, and 
the acts of the same individuals associated for the same purposes 
without incorporation, and acting by common agents, correspond- 
ents, or attorneys? The officers of a bank are but the agents of 
the proprietors ; and their purchases and sales are founded upon their 
property, and directed by their will, in the same manner as the acts 
of agents of unincorporated associations or partnerships. The Girard 
Bank, we all know, was never incorporated until after Mr. Girard's 
death ; yet its proprietor, during a considerable part of his life, and 
until his death, acted as a banker. Could he not, during his life, 
send an agent into Alabama, and there purchase bills of exchange ? 
And if his neighbors over the way chose to ask for an act of incor- 
poration from the State of Pennsylvania, are they thereby any less 
entitled to the privileges common to all other citizens, than Stephen 
Girard was ? 

I agree, certainly, generally, that a State law cannot operate ex- 
territorially, as the phrase is. But it is a lule of law, that a State 
authority may create an artificial being, giving it legal existence ; 
and that that being, thus created, may legally sue in other States than 
that by which it is created. It follows, of course, as a consequence 
of the right of suit in another State, that it may obtain judgment 
there. If it obtain judgment, it may accept satisfaction of that 
judgment. If a judgment be obtained in Alabama by the Bank of 
the United States, would not an acknowledgment of satisfaction by 
an agent of the bank be a satisfaction of the decree of the court ? 
How is, the fruit of a suit to be gathered, if the bank, by its agent, 
cannot do this act? What benefit can it be to this bank to be 
allowed to sue in Alabama, if it cannot take the money sued for? 
But it is said, by the court below, that it cannot recover money in 
Alabama, because it cannot do an act there I According to this 
argument, although the power to appeal to law and the power to 
recover judgment exist, yet the fructus legis is all dust and ashes. 



387 

On the commercial branch of this question, (Mr. Webster con- 
tinued,) he would say but little. But thus much he would say : 
The State of Alabama cannot make any commercial regulation for 
her own emolument or benefit, such as should create any difference 
between her own citizens and citizens of other States. He did not 
say that the State of Alabama may not make corporations, and give 
to them privileges which she docs not give to her citizens. But he 
did say, that she cannot create a monopoly to the prejudice of citi- 
zens of other States, or to the disparagement or prejudice of any 
common commercial right. Suppose that a person, having occasion 
to purchase bills of excliange, should not like the credit of bills sold 
by the Bank of Alabama ; or suppose (what is within the reach of 
possibility) that the Bank of Alabama should fail ; may not a citi- 
zen buy bills elsewhere ? Or is it supposed that the State of Ala- 
bama can give such a preference to any institution of her own in the 
buying and selling of exchange, that no exchange can be bought 
and sold within her limits but by that institution? It would be, 
doubtless, doing the State great injustice to suppose that she could 
entertain any such purpose. 

In conclusion of the argument upon this point, (said Mr. Webster,) 
I maintain that the plaintiffs in this case had a right to purchase this 
bill, and to recover judgment upon it. For the same reason that 
they had a right to bring this suit, they had the right to do the act 
upon which the suit was brought. 

But, if the rights of the plaintiffs, under this constitutional view 
of the case, be doubted, then what has been called the comity 
of nations obliges the court to sustain the plaintiffs in this cause. 

The term " comity " is taken from the civil law. Vattel has no 
distinct chapter upon that head. But the doctrine is laid down by 
other authorities with sufficient distinctness, and in effect by him. 
It is, in general terms, that there are, between nations at peace 
with one another, rights, both national and individual, resulting from 
the comity or courtesy due from one friendly nation to another. 
Among these is the right to sue in their courts respectively ; the 
right to travel in each other's dominions ; the right to pursue one's 
vocation in trade ; the right to do all things, generally, which belong 
to the citizens proper of each country, and which they are not pre- 
cluded from doing by some positive law of the state. Among 
these rights, one of the clearest is the right of a citizen of one nation 
to take away his property from the territory of any other friendly 
nation, without molestation or objection. This is what we call tlie 
comity of nations. It is the usage of nations, and has become a 
positive obligation on all nations. I know (said Mr. Webster) that 
it is but customary or voluntary law ; that it is a law existing by the 
common understanding and consent of nations, and not established 
for the government of nations by any common superior. For this 



388 

reason, every nation, to a certain extent, judges for itself of the ex- 
tent of the obligation of this law, and puts its own construction upon 
it. Every other nation, however, has a right to do the same ; and 
if, therefore, any two nations differ irreconcilably in their construc- 
tion of this law, there is no resort for settling that difference but the 
ultima ratio rcgum. 

The right of a foreigner to sue in the courts of any country may 
be regulated by particular laws or ordinances of that country. He 
may be required to give security for the costs of suit in any case, or 
not to leave the country until the end of the controversy. He may 
possibly be required to give security that he will not carry his 
})roperty out of the country till his debts are paid. But if, under 
pretence of such regulation, any nation shall impose unreasonable 
restrictions or penalties on the citizens of any otlier nation, the 
power of judging that matter for itself lies with that other nation. 
Suppose that the Government of the United States, for example, 
should say that every foreigner should pay into the public Treasury 
ten, twenty, or fifty per cent, of any amount w hich he might recover 
by suit in our courts of law ; would such a regulation be perfectly 
just and right? Or would not the practice of such extortion upon 
the citizens of other nations be a just ground of complaint; and, if 
unredressed, a ground of war, much more sufficient than most of the 
causes which put nations in arms against one another? What is, in 
fact, now the question, which has assumed so serious an aspect 
between the Governments of France and Mexico? One of the 
leading causes of difference between the two countries, so far as I 
understand it, is, not that the courts of Mexico are not open to the 
citizens or subjects of France, but that the courts do not do justice 
between them and the citizens of Mexico ; in other words, that 
French subjects are not treated in Mexico according to the comity 
of the law of nations. [Mr. Webster said he did not speak of the 
merits of this quarrel : into that he did not enter : he spoke only 
of things alleged between the parties.] Look (said Mr. Webster) 
into Vattel, and you v/ill find that this very right to carry away 
property, the proceeds of trade, from a foreign friendly country, 
by exchange, is a well-understood and positive part of the law of 
nations. Suppose that there existed no treaties between the United 
States and France or England, guarantying these rights to each 
other's citizens ; these rights would yet exist, by tacit consent and 
permission. Suppose this Government, in the absence of treaties, 
were to shut its courts against the citizens of either nation, (to do so 
would be only a violation of the comity of nations,) and should grant 
them no redress upon complaint being made; it might, unquestion- 
ably, be ground of war against the United States by that nation. 

There are in London several incorporated insurance companies. 
Sup2:ose a ship, insured by one of these companies, should be wrecked 



389 

in ihe Chesapeake Bay. Being abandoned, she becomes the prop- 
erty of the corporation by which she was insured. I demand 
whether the insurers may not come and take this property, and 
bring an action for it, if necessary, in any court in this country, 
State or Federal. They may recover by an action of tort against 
the wrong-doer. They may replevy their property, if necessary, or 
sell it, or refit it, or send it back. Unquestionably, if any country 
were to debar the citizens of another country of the enjoyment of 
these common rights within its territorial jurisdiction, it would be 
cause of war. I do not mean that a single act of that sort would, 
or should, bring on a war ; but it would be an act of that nature, so 
plain and manifest a violation of our duty under the law of nations, 
as to justify war. According to the judgment of the court below, 
in the present case, iiowever, these insurance companies would be 
deprived of tlieir rightful remedy. You let them sue, indeed ; but 
that is all. 

Mr. Webster here refeiTed to a case tried some time ago in the 
Circuit Court of the Massachusetts District, in which he was counsel, 
in which a vessel insured in Boston was wrecked in Nova Scotia, 
and was abandoned to the insurers. The insurance office sent out 
an agent, who did that which the owner of the vessel said was an 
acceptance of the abandonment. On the question whether the agent 
of the Boston office accepted the abandonment, (said Mr. Webster,) 
the court decided the case. If we had said that we sent him down, 
indeed, but that his agency ceased when he got to the boundary line 
of the State, and he could do no act when he got beyond it, and the 
court had agreed with us, we might, perhaps, have gained our cause. 
But it never occurred to me, nor probably to the court, that the 
agency of our agent terminated the moment that he passed the 
limits of the State. 

The law of comity is a part of the law of nations ; and it 
does authorize a corporation of any State to make contracts be- 
yond the limits of that State. 

How does a State contract ? How many of the States of this 
Union have made contracts for loans in England ! A State is sov- 
ereign, in a certain sense. But, when a State sues, it sues as a cor- 
poration. When it enters into contracts with the citizens of foreign 
nations, it does so in its corporate character. I now say, that it is 
the adjudged and admitted law of the world, that corporations have 
the same riirht to contract and to sue in foreign countries as individ- 
uals have. By the law of nations, individuals of other countries are 
allowed in this country to contract and sue ; and we make no dis- 
tinction, in the case of individuals, between the right to sue and the 
right to contract. Nor can any such distinction be sustained in law 
in the case of corporations. Where, in history, in the books, is any 
law or dictum to be found, (except the disputed case from Virginia,) 



390 

in which a distinction is drawn between the rights of individuals and 
of corporations to contract and sue in foreign countries in regard to 
things, generally, free and open to every body ? In the whole civil- 
ized world, at home and abroad, in England, Holland, and other 
countries of Europe, the equal rights of corporations and individuals, 
in this respect, have been undisputed until now, and in this case ; 
and if a distinction is to be set up between them at this day, it lies 
with the counsel on the other side to produce some semblance 
of authority or show of reason for it. 

But it is argued, that, though this law of comity exists as between 
independent nations, it does not exist between the States of this 
Union. That argument appears to have been the foundation of 
the judgment in the court below. 

In respect to this law of comity, it is said, States are not nations ; 
they have no national sovereignty ; a sort of residuum of sovereignty 
is all that remains to them. The national sovereignty, it is said, is 
conferred on this Government, and part of the municipal sovereignty. 
The rest of the municipal sovereignty belongs to the States. Not- 
withstanding the respect w^hlch 1 entertain for the learned judge who 
presided in that court, I cannot follow in the train of his argument. 
I can make no diagram, such as this, of the partition of national 
character between the State and the General Governments. I 
cannot map it out, and say, " So far is national, and so far munici- 
pal ; and here is the exact line where the one begins and the 
other ends." We have no second Laplace, and we never shall 
have, with his Mccanique Politique, able to define and describe the 
orbit of each sphere in our political system with such exact mathe- 
matical precision. There is no such thing as arranging these gov- 
ernments of ours by the laws of gravitation, so that they will be sure 
to go on forever without impinging. These institutions are practical, 
admirable, glorious, blessed creations. Still they were, when created, 
experimental institutions ; and if the Convention which framed the 
Constitution of the United States had set down in it certain general 
definitions of power, such as have been alleged in the argument of 
this case, and stopped there, I verily believe that, in the course of 
the fifty years which have since elapsed, this Government would 
have never gone into operation. 

Suppose that this Constitution had said, in terms, after the lan- 
guage of the court below, "All national sovereignty shallhelong to 
the United States ; all municipal sovereignty to the several States." 
1 will say that, however clear, however distinct, such a definition 
may appear to those who use it, the employment of it in the Con- 
stitution could only have led to utter confusion and uncertainty. I 
am not prepared to say that the States have no national sovereignty. 
The laws of some of the States — Maryland and Virginia, for in- 
stance — provide punishment for treason. The power thus exercised 



391 

is certainly not municipal. Virginia has a law of alienage : that is 
a power exercised against a foreign nation. Does not the question 
necessarily arise, when a power is exercised concerning an alien en- 
emy — " Enemy to whom ? " The law of escheat, which exists in 
many States, is also the exercise of a great sovereign power. 

The term " sovereignty " does not occur in the Constitution at all. 
The Constitution treats States as States, and the United States as 
the United States; and, by a careful enumeration, declares all the 
powers that are granted to the United States, and all the rest are 
reserved to the States. If we pursue to the extreme point the 
powers granted and the powers reserved, the powers of the General 
and State Governments will be found, it is to be feared, impinging 
and in conflict. Our hope is, that the prudence and patriotism of 
the States, and the wisdom of this Government, will prevent that 
catastrophe. For myself, I will pursue the advice of the court in 
Deveaux's case ; I will avoid nice metaphysical subtil ties, and all 
useless theories ; I will keep my feet out of the traps of general defi- 
nition ; I will keep my feet out of all traps ; I will keep to things as 
they are, and go no farther to inquire what they might be, if they 
were not what they are. The States of this Union, as States, are 
subject to all the voluntary and customary law of nations. [Mr. 
Webster here referred to and quoted a passage from Vattel, page 
61, which, he said, clearly showed that States connected together 
as are the States of this Union, must be considered as much amena- 
ble to the law of nations as any others.] 

If, for the decision of any question, the proper rule is to be found 
in the law of nations, that law adheres to the subject. It follows the 
subject through, no matter into what place, high or low. You can- 
not escape the law of nations in a case where it is applicable. The 
air of every judicature is full of it. It pervades the courts of law of 
the highest character, and the court of pie poudre ; ay, even the 
constable's court. It is part of the universal law. It may share the 
glorious eulogy pronounced by Hooker upon law itself — that there is 
nothing so high as to be beyond the reach of its power, nothing so 
low as to be beneath its care. If any question be within the influ- 
ence of the law of nations, the law of nations is there. If the law 
of comity does not exist between the States of this Union, how can 
it exist between a State and the subjects of any foreign sovereio-nty? 

Upon all the consideration that I have given to the case, the 
conclusion seems to me inevitable, that if the law of comity do not 
exist between the States of this Union, it cannot exist between the 
States individually and foreign Powers. It is true, a State cannot 
make a treaty ; she cannot be a party to a new chapter on the law 
of nations; but the law which prevails among nations — the cus- 
tomary rule of judicature, recognized by all nations — binds her 
in all her courts. 



392 

I have heard no answer to another argument. If a contract 
be made in New York, with the expectation that it is to be there 
executed, and suit is brought upon it in Alabama, it is to be decided 
by the law of the State in which the contract was made. In a case 
now before this court, there has been a decision by the court of 
Alabama, in which that court has undertaken to learn the law 
of the State of New York, and administer it in Alabama. Why 
take notice in Alabama of the law of New York ? Because, 
simply, there are cases in which the courts in Alabama feel it 
to be their duty to administer that law, and to enforce rights 
accordingly. That (said Mr. Webster) is the very point for 
which we contend, viz., the court in Alabama should have given 
effect to rights exercised in that State by the plaintiff in the 
present cause, under the authority of Pennsylvania, without pre- 
judice to the State of Alabama. 

After all that has been said in argument about corporations, they 
are but forms of special partnership, in some of which the partners 
are severally liable. The whole end and aim of most of them, as 
with us, is to concentrate the means of small capitalists in a form in 
which they can be used to advantage. 

In the Eastern States, manufactures too extensive for individual 
capital are carried on in this way. A large quantity of goods 
is manufactured and sold to the South, out of cotton bought in the 
South, to the amount of inany millions in every year. Upon the 
principle of the decision in the court below, the manufacturers of the 
goods and the growers of the cotton would be equally precluded 
from recovering their dues. What will our fellow-citizens of the 
South say to this ? If, after we have got their cotton, they cannot 
get their money for it, they will be in no great love, I think, with 
these new doctrines about the comity of States and Nations. 

Again, look at the question as it regards the insurance offices. 
How are all marine insurances, fire insurances, and life insurances, 
effected in this country, but by the agency of companies incorpo- 
rated by the several States ? And the insurances made by these 
companies beyond the limits of their particular States, are they all 
void ? I suppose that the insurances against fire, effected for 
companies at Hartford, in Connecticut, alone, by agents all over 
the Northern States, may amount to an aggregate of some millions 
of dollars. I remember a case occumng in New Hampshire, of a 
suit against one of those companies for the amount of an insurance, 
in which a recovery was had against the company ; and nothing 
was said, nor probably thought, of such a contract of insurance be- 
ing illegal, on the ground that a corporation of Connecticut could not 
do an act or make a contract in New Hampshire. Are those 
insurances all to be held void, upon the principle of the decis- 
ion from Alabama ? 



393 

And as to notes Issued by banks : If one in Alabama hold the 
notes of a bank incorporated by Pennsylvania, are they void ? If 
one be robbed there of such notes, is it no theft? If one counter- 
feit those notes there, is it no crime ? Are all such notes mere 
nullities, when out of the State where issued? 

Reference has been made to the statute-books to show cases in 
which the States have forbidden foreign insurance companies from 
making insurances within their limits. But no such prohibition has 
been shown against insurances by citizens of, or companies created 
in, the different States. Is not this an exact case for the application 
of the rule, Exceptio prohat regulam 1 The fact of such prohibitory 
legislation shows that citizens of other States have, and that citizens 
of foreign Powers had, before they were excluded by law, the right 
to make insurances in any and every one of the States. 

Mr. Webster next called the attention of the court to the deposit 
law, passed by Congress on the 23d of June, 1836. It w as (said 
he) one of the conditions upon which, under that act, any State 
bank should become a depository of the public money, that it 
should enter into obligations " to render to the Government all the 
duties and services heretofore required by law to be performed by the 
late Bank of the United States, and its several branches or offices ; " 
that is, to remit money to any part of the United States, transfer it 
from one State to another, &ic. But that act required, also, some- 
thing more ; and it shows how little versed we in Congress were 
(and I take to myself my full share of the shame) in the legal obsta- 
cles to the doing of acts in one State by corporations of other States. 
The first section of that act provides, that, " in those States, Terri- 
tories, or Districts, in which there are no banks," &c., the Secretary 
of the Treasury " may make arrangement with a bank or banks 
in some other State, Territory, or District, to establish an agency 
or agencies in the States, Territories, or Districts, so destitute of 
banl's, as banks of deposit," he. Here is an express recognition 
by Congress of the power of a State bank to create an agent for the 
purpose of dealing as a bank in another State or Territory. 

It has been said that, as there is no law of comity, under the law 
of nations, between the States, it remains for the Legislatures of the 
several States to adopt, in their conduct towards each other, as n)uch 
of the principle of comity as they please. Here, then, there is to be 
negotiation between the States, to determine how far they will ob- 
serve this law of comity. They are thus required to do precisely 
what they cannot do. Stales cannot make treaties nor compacts. 
A State cannot negotiate. It cannot even hold an Indian talk ! 
And now, I would ask how it Iiappens, at this time of the day, that 
this court shall be called upon to make a decision contrary to the 
spirit of the Constitution, and against the whole course of decisions 
in this country and in Europe, and the undisputed practice under this 
VOL. III. 50 «. 



394 

Government for fifty years, overturning the law of conilty, and leav- 
ing it to the States, each to establish a comity for itself. 

Mr. Webster here took leave of the question of the power of a cor- 
poration created by one of the States to make contracts in another. 

I now proceed (said Mr. Webster) to consider whether there be 
any thing in the law or constitution of the State of Alabama which 
prevents the agent of the Bank of the United States in that State from 
making such a contract as that which is the foundation of this suit. 

It is said that the buying of a bill of exchange by such agent is 
contrary to the policy of the State of Alabama ; and this is inferred 
from the law establishing the Bank of Alabama ; that bank being 
authorized to deal in bills of exchange, and the constitution of 
the State authorizing the establishment of no other tlian one bank 
in the State. 

This (said Mr. Webster) is a violent inference. 

How does the buying or selling bills of exchange in Alabama, by 
another purchaser than the Bank of Alabama, infringe her policy ? 
Because, it is said, it diminishes the profits w hich she derives from 
the dealings of the bank. Profit is her policy, it is argued ; gain, her 
end. Is it against her policy for Mr. Biddle to buy bills, because 
his bank is incorporated ; and not against her policy for Mr. Girard 
to buy bills, because his is not incorporated ? Or how far does she 
carry this policy imputed to her? Is no one to be allowed to buy or 
sell bills of exchange in Alabama but a bank of her own, which may 
or may not be in credit, and may or may not be solvent ? It would 
be strange, indeed, were any State in this Union to adopt such 
a policy as this. But, if the argument founded on this inferred 
policy of Alabama amounts to any thing, it proves, not that incor- 
porated citizens of other States cannot buy or sell bills there, but 
that it is the policy of Alabama to prevent other citizens from buy- 
ing bills at all in Alabama. 

I think (said Mr. Webster) that there is no just foundation for the 
inference of any such policy on the part of the State of Alabama. 
By referring to Aikins's Digest of the laws of that State, it will be 
found that she has carried her policy a little further than merely the 
establishing of a bank. Her public officers are authorized to receive 
the notes of banks of other States in payment of dues to her; and 
she has enacted laws to punish the forgery of notes of other banks. 
Now, takino- her acts tosjether, considering them as a whole, the 
inference which has been drawn from her establishment of a State 
bank under her constitution is certainly not sustained. 

To consider this argument, however, more closely : It is assumed 
by itj first, that the State meant, by her legislation, to take to herself 
all the profits of banking within her territorial limits ; and, secondly, 
that the act of buying and selling a bill of exchange belongs to 
banking. 



395 

The profits of banking are derived more from circulation than 
from exchange. If the State meant, through her bank poUcy, to 
take all the profits of banking, why has she not taken all the profits 
of circulation ? Not only she has done no such thing, but she pro- 
tects the circulation of the notes of banks of other States. 

JMr. Webster begged now to ask the particular attention of the 
court to this question: What is banking? 

Alabama, in reference to banking, has done nothing but establish 
a bank, and give it the usual banking powers. And when the 
learned counsel on the other side speak of banking, what do they 
mean by it ? A bank deals in exchange, and it buys or builds 
houses also ; so do individuals. If there be any thing peculiar in 
these acts by a bank, it must be not in the nature of the acts in- 
dividually, but in the aggregate of the whole. What constitutes 
banking must be something peculiar. There are various acts of 
legislation by different States in this country for granting or prevent- 
ing the exercise of banking privileges. But has any law ever been 
passed to authorize or to prevent the buying by an individual of a 
bill of exchange? No one has ever heard of such a thincr. The 
laws to restrain banking have all been directed to one end ; that is, 
to repress the unauthorized circulation of paper money. There are 
various other functions performed by banks; but, in discharging all 
these, they only do what unincorporated individuals do. 

What is that, then, without which any institution is not a bank, 
and with which it is a bank? It is a power to issue promis' 
sory notes ivith a view to their circulation as money. 

Our ideas of banking have been derived principally from the act 
constituting the first Bank of the United States, and the idea of that 
bank was borrowed from the Bank of England. [To ascertain the 
character and peculiar functions of the Bank of England, Mr. Web- 
ster here referred, and referred the Court, to various authorities ; to 
McCulloch's Commercial Dictionary ; to Smollett's Continuation of 
Hume's England ; to Godfrey's History of the Bank of England, in 
Lord Somers's Tracts, 11th volume, 1st article; to Anderson's 
History of Commerce, Sic] 

The project of the Bank of England was conceived, Mr. Web- 
ster said, by Mr. Palerson, a Scotch gentleman, who had travelled 
much abroad, and had seen somewhere, (he believed in Lombardy,) 
a small bank which issued tickets or promises of payment of money. 
From this he took the idea of a bank of circulation. That was in 
1694. At that time, neither inland bills nor promissory notes were 
necjotiable or transferable, so as to enable the holder to brino- suit 
thereon m his own name. There was no negotiable paper, except 
foreign bills of exchange. Mr. Paterson's conception was, that the 
notes of the Bank of England should be negotiable toties quoties, or 
transferable from hand to hand, payable at the bank in specie, either 



396 



on demand, or at very short sight. This conception had complete 
success, because there was then no other inland paper, either bills 
or notes, which was negotiable. The whole field was occupied by 
Bank of England notes. In 1698, inland bills were made negoti- 
able by act of Parliament ; and in the fourth year of Queen Anne's 
reign, promissory notes were made negotiable. Of course, after 
this, every body might issue promissory notes; and, where they had 
credit enough, they might circulate as money. There is not much 
of novelty in the inventions of mankind. Under this state of things, 
that took place in England which we have seen so often take place 
among us, and which we have put to the account of modern contri- 
vance. Large companies were formed, with heavy amounts of cap- 
ital, for purposes not professedly banking ; one, especially, to carry 
on the mining business on a large scale. These companies issued 
promissory notes, payable on demand, and these notes readily got 
into circulation as cash, to the prejudice of the circulation of the 
Bank of England. But, Parliament being at this time in great want 
of ready money for the expenditures of the war on the continent, the 
bank proposed to double its capital, and to lend this new half of it 
to Government, if Government would secure to the banJc an exclu- 
sive circulation of its notes. The statute of the 6th of Anne, chap- 
ter 22, was accordingly passed ; which recites that other persons 
and divers corporations have presumed to borrow money, and 
to deal as a bank, contrary to former acts ; and thereupon it is 
enacted, that ''no corporation, or more than six persons in part- 
nership, shall borroiv, oive, or take up any m.oney on their bills and 
notes, payable at demand, or at less than six months from the bor- 
roiving." This provision has been often reenacted, and consti- 
tutes the banking privilege of the Bank of England. Competition 
was not feared from the circulation of individual notes. Hence 
individuals, or partnerships of not more than six persons, have been 
at liberty to issue small notes, payable on demand ; in other words, 
notes for circulation. And we know that, in the country, such notes 
have extensively circulated; but private bankers in London, in the 
neighborhood of the bank, though it was lawful, have not found it 
useful, to issue their own notes. So that the banking privilege of 
the Bank of England consisted simply in the privilege of issuing 
notes for circulation, while that privilege was forbidden, by law, to 
all other corporations, and all large partnerships and associations. 
This privilege was restrained, in 1826, so as not to prohibit 
banking companies, except within the distance of sixty-five miles 
of London ; and, at the same time, notes of the bank were made a 
tender in payment of all debts, except by the bank itself. This 
provision may be considered as a new privilege ; but it does not 
belong to the original and essential idea of banking. Mr. McCulloch 
remarks, and truly, that all that Government has properly to do 



397 

with banks is only so far asMiey are banks of issue. Upon the 
same principle, the banks of other countries of Europe are incorpo- 
rated, with the privilege to issue and circulate notes, as their dis- 
tinctive character. Here Mr. Webster explained the character of 
the banks of France, Belgium, &tc. 

Now, how is it in our own country ? When our State Legis- 
latures have undertaken to restrain banking, the great end in view 
has been to prevent the circulation of notes. Mr. Webster here re- 
ferred to the statute-books of Massachusetts, Maine, Rhode Island, 
and New Hampshire, for restraining unauthorized companies from 
issuing notes of circulation. He then turned to the statute of Ohio, 
imposing a punishment for unauthorized banking. Her law defines, 
in the first place, what constitutes a bank, viz., the issuing of notes 
which pass by delivery, and which are intended for circulation as cash. 
That, said Mr. Webster, is the true definition of a bank, as we under- 
stand it, in this country. Mr. Webster referred also to the laws of 
other States, — Maryland, New Jersey, Missouri, Pennsylvania, 
Delaware, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, — all 
to the same effect. The law of the State of Alabama herself, said he, 
is much more important, in this view of the case, than that of any 
other State. The constitution of the State of Alabama was estab- 
lished in 1819; the law creating the Bank of Alabama was passed 
in 1823. The constitution and this law are all the authorities from 
which the inference has been drawn of the policy of the State of 
Alabama. Did she suppose that, by this law, she was establishing 
such a monopoly of the purchase of bills of exchange as has been 
contended for in this case ? Certainly not. For, by a law passed 
afterwards, she restrained the circulation of unauthorized bank notes, 
that is, notes not issued by some authorized banks. But did she,, 
also, restrain dealings in exchange? She did no such thing. Nor 
is there any thing, either in the constitution or the laws of the State 
of Alabama, which shows that by banking she ever meant more than 
the circulation of bills as currency. There is nothing, therefore, in 
any law, or any policy, of Alabama, against the purchase of bills of 
exchange by others as well as by the Bank of Alabama. She has 
prohibited, by law, other transactions which are clearly banking 
transactions ; but she has not touched this. If even her banking 
policy includes as well buying exchange as circulation, and she 
guards against competition in the one, and leaves the other open, who 
can say, in the face of such evidence, that it is her policy to guard 
against what she leaves free and unrestrained ? 

Is there any thing in the constitution, or any ground in the legis- 
lation of Alabama, to sustain the allegation which has been made of 
her policy? If not, is the existence of such a policy to be estab- 
lished here by construction, and that construction far-fetched? 

Mr. Webster here rested his argument on this case, which, he 

HH 



398 

said, had been discussed by others so ably as not to justify his 
occupying the time of the court by going further into it. 

The learned counsel on the other side had, in the course of his 
argument of yesterday, alluded to the newspapers, which, he said, 
had treated the decision of the court below scornfully. Mr. Web- 
ster said he was sorry to hear it ; for the learned judge had acted, in 
his decision, he had no doubt, under a high sense of duty. I have 
been told, said Mr. Webster, but I have not seen it, that a press in 
this city, since this case has been under consideration in this court, 
has undertaken to speak, in a tone something approaching to that 
of command, of the decision upon it to be expected from this court. 
Such conduct is certainly greatly discreditable to the character of 
the country, as well as disrespectful and injurious to the court. 

A learned gentleman on the other side said, the other day, that he 
thought he might regard himself, in this cause, as having the country 
for his client. He only meant, doubtless, to express a strong opin- 
ion that the interest of the country required the case to be decided 
in his favor. I agree with the learned gentleman, and I go, indeed, 
far beyond him, in my estimate of the importance of this case to the 
country. He did not take pains to show the extent of the evil which 
would result from undoing the vast number of contracts which would 
be affected by the affirmation here of the judgment rendered in the 
court below, because his object did not require that : his object was 
to diminish the prospect of mischief, not to enlarge it. For myself, 
I see neither limit nor end to the calamitous consequences of such a 
decision. I do not know where it would not reach, what interests 
it would not disturb, or how any part of the commercial system of 
the country would be free from its influences, direct or remote. And 
for what end is all this to be done? What practical evil calls for so 
harsh, not to say so rash, a remedy ? And why, now, when exist- 
ing systems and established opinions, when both the law and the 
public sentiment, have concurred in what has been found, practically, 
so safe and so useful ; why now, and why here, seek to introduce 
new and portentous doctrines ? If I were called upon to say what 
has struck me as most remarkable and wonderful in this whole case, 
I would, instead of indulging in expletives, exaggerations, or excla- 
mations, put it down as the most extraordinar)" circumstance, that 
now, within a short month of the expiration of the first half century 
of our existence under this Constitution, such a question should 
be made ; that now, for the first time, and here, for the last place 
on earth, such doctrines as have been heard in its support should be 
brought forward. With all the respect which I really entertain for 
the court below, and for the arguments which have been delivered 
here on the same side, 1 must say that, in my judgment, the decis- 
ion now under revision by this court, is, in its principle, anti-com- 
mercial and anti-social, new and unheard-of in our system, and 



399 

calculated to break up the harmony which has so long prevailed 
among the States and People of this Union, 

It is not, however, for the learned gentleman, nor for myself, 
to say, here, that we speak for the country. We advance our 
sentiments and our arguments, but they are without authority. 
But it is for you, Mr. Chief Justice and Judges, on this, as on other 
occasions of high importance, to speak, and to decide, for the coun- 
try. The guardianship of her commercial interests ; the preserva- 
tion of the harmonious intercourse of all her citizens ; the fulfilling, 
in this respect, of the great object of the Constitution, are in your 
hands; and I am not to doubt that the trust will be so performed 
as to sustain, at once, high national objects, and the character 
of this tribunal. 



ADDRESS 



AT THE TRIE?^N1AL CELEBRATION OF THE NATIONAL AGRI- 
CULTURAL SOCIETY, OXFORD, ENGLAND, JULY 18, 1839. 



In the spring of 1839, Mr. Webster went to England, for the first time in 
his life. He went in no public capacity. But his reputation had preceded him, 
and he was received with every mark of the most distinguished consideration. 
He was present at several public festivals, and his addresses appear to have 
made a deep impression on those who heard them. The following is the only 
one, however, which was reported at any length. It was delivered at the first 
Triennial Celebration of the National Agricultural Society, held at Oxford, on the 
18th of July. Three thousand persons were at table. Earl Spencer presided, 
and, in introducing Mr. Webster, said they had " already drunk the health of a 
foreign minister who was present, but they had the honor and advantage of hav- 
ing among them other foreigners, not employed in any public capacity, who had 
come among them for the purpose of seeing a meeting of English farmers, such 
as he believed never had been witnessed before, but which he hoped might often 
be seen again. Among these foreigners was one gentleman, of a most distin- 
guished character, from the United States of America, that great country, whose 
people we were obliged legally to call foreigners, but who were still our brethren 
in blood. 

" It was most gratifying to him that such a man had been present at that meeting, 
that he might know what the farmers of England really were, and be able to re- 
port to his fellow-citizens the manner in which they were united, from every 
class, in promoting their peaceful and most important objects." He gave, 

"The health of Mr. Webster, and other distinguished strangers." 

The toast was received with much applause. 



Mr. Webster said the notice which the noble earl at the head of 
the table had been kind enough to take of him, and the friendly 
sentiments which he had seen fit to express toward the country to 
which he belonged, demanded his most cordial acknowledgments. 
He shouhl therefore begin by saying how gratified he had been in 
hav'ng it in his power to pass one day among the proprietors, the 
cultivators, the farmers of Old England — that England of which he 
had been reading and conversing all his life, and now for once 
had the pleasure of visiting. 

400 



401 

He would say, In the next place, — if he could say, — how much 
he had been pleased and gratified with the exhibition of one prod- 
uct, or branch of product, of that agriculture for which England 
was so justly distinguished. When persons connected with some 
pursuit, of whatever description, assembled in such numbers, he 
could not but look on them with respect and regard ; but he con- 
fessed at once that he was more than ordinarily moved on all such 
occasions, when he saw before him a great assemblage of those 
whose interests, whose hopes, whose objects and pursuits, were 
connected, on either continent, with the cultivation of the soil. 

Whatever else might tend to enrich and beautify society, that 
which feeds and clothes comfortably the great mass of mankind 
should always, he contended, be regarded as the great foundation 
of national interest. He need not say that the agriculture of Eng- 
land was instructive to all the world ; as a science, it was here better 
understood ; as an art, it was here better practised ; as a great interest, 
it was here as highly esteemed as in any other part of the globe. 

The importance of agriculture to a nation was obvious to every 
man ; but it, perhaps, did not strike ever}^ mind so suddenly, although 
certainly it was equally true, that the annual produce of English 
agriculture was a great concern to the whole civilized world. The 
civilized and commercial states were so connected, their interests 
were so blended, that it was a matter of notoriety, that the fear or 
the prospect of a short crop in England deranged and agitated the 
business transactions and commercial regulations and speculations 
of the whole world. 

It was natural that this should be the case in those nations which 
looked to the occurrence of a short crop in England, as an occasion 
which may enable them to dispose profitably of their own surplus 
produce ; but the fact went much farther, for when there was such 
an occurrence in the English capital, — the centre of commercial 
speculations for the whole world ; where the price of commodities 
was settled and arranged ; where the exchanges between nations 
were conducted and concluded, — its consequences were felt every 
where, as none knew better than the noble earl who occupied the 
chair. 

Should there be a frost in England fifteen days later than usual, — 
should there be an unseasonable drought, or ten cold and wet days, 
instead of ten warm and dry ones, when the harvest should be 
reaped, — every exchange in Europe and America felt the conse- 
quence of it. He would not pursue these remarks. [Loud cries 
of "Go on, go on."] He must, however, say that he entertained 
not the slightest doubt of the great advantage to the interest of 
agriculture which must result from the formation and operation of 
this society. 

Was it not obvious to the most common observer, that those who 

VOL. Ill, 51 HH* 



402 

cultivated the soil had not the same conveniences, opportunities, and 
facilities, of dally Intercourse and comparison of opinions as the 
commercial and manufacturing Interests ? Those who are associated 
in the pursuits of commerce and manufactures naturally congregated 
together In cities ; they had Immediate means of frequent commu- 
nication. Their sympathies, feelings, and opinions, were Instan- 
taneously circulated, like electricity, through the whole body. 

But how was it with the cultivators of the soil ? Separated, 
spread over a thousand fields, each attentive to his o\yn acres, they 
had only occasional opportunities cf communicating with each other. 
If, among commercial men, chambers of commerce and other Insti- 
tutions of that character, — if, among the trades, guilds were found 
expedient, — how much more necessary and advisable to have some 
such institutions, which, at least annually, should bring together the 
representatives of the great agricultural interest ! 

In many parts of the country to which he belonged, there were 
societies upon a similar principle, which had been found very ad- 
vantageous. They had rewards for specimens of fine animals ; 
they had rewards for implements of husbandry supposed to excel 
those which had been known before. They turned their attention 
to every thing supposed to facilitate the operations of the farmer, 
and improve his stock, and Interest in the country. Among other 
means of improving agriculture, they had Imported largely from the 
best breeds of animals known in England. 

He knew that a gentleman who had to-day deservedly obtained 
many prizes for stock, would not be displeased to learn that he had 
seen along the rich pastures of the Ohio and its tributary streams, 
animals raised from those which had been furnished by his farms in 
Yorkshire and Northumberland. But, apart from this subject, he 
must be allowed to make a short response to the very kind senti- 
ments, which went near to his heart, as uttered by the noble earl 
at the head of the table. 

Their noble chairman was pleased to speak of the people of the 
United States as kindred in blood with the people of England. I 
am an American. I was born on that great continent, and I am 
wedded to the fortunes of my country, for weal or for wo. There 
is no other region of the earth which I can call my country. But 
I know, and I am proud to know, what blood flows in these veins. 

I am happy to stand here to-day, and to remember, although my 
ancestors, for several generations. He burled beneath the soil of the 
western continent, yet there has been a time when my ancestors and 
your ancestors tolled in the same cities and villages, cultivated ad- 
jacent fields, and worked together to build up that great structure 
of civil polity which has made England what England is. 

When I was about to embark, some friends asked me what I 
was going to England for. To be sure, gentlemen, I came for no 



403 

object of business, public or private; but I told tbem I was coming 
to see the elder branch of the family. I told them I was coming 
to see my distant relations, my kith and kin of the old Saxon race. 

With regard to whatsoever is important to the peace of the world, 
its prosperity, the progress of knowledge and of just opinions, the 
diffusion of the sacred light of Christianity, I know nothing more 
important to the promotion of those best interests of humanity, and 
the cause of the general peace, amity, and concord, than the good 
feeling subsisting between the Englishmen on this side of the 
Atlantic, and the descendants of Englishmen on the other. 

Some litde clouds have overhung our horizon — I trust they will 
soon pass away. I am sure that the age we live in does not ex- 
pect that England and America are to have controversies carried 
to the extreme, upon any occasion not of the last importance to 
national interests and honor. 

We live in an age when nations as well as individuals are sub- 
ject to a moral responsibility. Neither government nor people — 
thank God for it — can now trifle with the general sense of the 
civilized world ; and I am sure that the civilized world would hold 
your country and my country to a very strict account, if, without 
very plain and apparent reason, deeply affecting the independence 
and great interests of the nation, any controversy between them 
should have other than an amicable issue. 

I will venture to say that each country has intelligence enough 
to understand all that belongs to its just rights, and is not deficient 
in means to maintain them ; and if any controversy between Eng- 
land and Ainerica were to be pushed to the extreme of force, 
neither party would or could have any signal advantage over the 
other, except what it could find in the justness of its cause and the 
approbation of the world. 

With respect to the occasion which has called us together, I beg 
to repeat the gratification which I have felt in passing a day among 
such a company, and conclude with the most fervent expression of 
my wish for the prosperity and usefulness of the Agricultural 
Society of England. 



REMARKS 



ON THE AGRICULTURE OF ENGLAND, AT A MEETING OF MEMBERS 
OF THE LEGISLATURE OF MASSACHUSETTS AND OTHERS IN- 
TERESTED IN AGRICULTURE, HELD AT THE STATE-HOUSE IN 
BOSTON, ON THE EVENING OF JANUARY 13, 1840. 



Mr. Webster began with stating that he regarded agriculture as 
the leading interest of society ; and as having, in all its relations, a 
direct and intimate bearing upon human comfort and the national 
prosperity. He had been familiar with its operations in his youth ; 
and he had always looked upon the subject with a lively and deep 
interest. He did not esteem himself to be particularly qualified to 
judge of the subject in all its various aspects and departments ; and 
he neither himself regarded, nor would he have others regard, his 
opinions as authoritative ; but the subject had been one of careful 
observation to him, both in public and private life ; and his visit to 
Europe, at a season of the year particularly favorable for this pur- 
pose, had given him the opportunity of seeing its improved hus- 
bandry, and as far as it might be interesting, or would have a bearing 
upon the subject of the evening's discussion, — the agriculture of 
Massachusetts, — he would, as the meeting appeared to expect, say 
a few words upon what had attracted his notice. 

How far, in a question of this kind, the example of other countries 
was to be followed, was an inquiry worthy of much consideration. 
The example of a foreign country might be too closely followed. 
It would furnish a safe rule of imitation only as far as the circum- 
stances of the one country correspond witJi those of the other. 

The great objects of agriculture, and the great agricultural 
products of England and of Massachusetts, are much the same. 
Neither country produces olives, nor rice, nor cotton, nor the sugar- 
cane. Bread, meat, and clothing, are the main productions of 
both. But, although the great productions are mainly the same, 
yet there are many diversities of condition and circumstances, and 
various modes of culture. 

The primary elements which enter into the consideration of the 
agriculture of a country are four — climate, soil, price of land, and 
price of labor. In any comparison, therefore, of the agriculture of 
England with that of Massachusetts, these elements are to be 
taken particularly into view. 

404 



405 

The climate of England differs essentially from that of this 
country. England is on the western side of the eastern, and we 
on the eisiern side of the western, continent. The climate of each 
country is materially affected by its respective situation in relation 
to the ocean. The winds which prevail most, both in this coun- 
try and in England, are from the west ; it is known that the wind 
blows, in our latitude, from some point west to some point east, on 
an average of years, nearly or quite three days out of four. These 
facts are familiar. The consequences resulting from them are, 
that our winters are colder, and our summers much hotter, than 
in England. Our latitude is about that of Oporto, yet the tem- 
perature is very different. On these accounts, therefore, the ma- 
turing of the crops in England, and the power of using these 
crops, creates a material difference between its agriculture and ours. 
It may be supposed that our climate must resemble that of China 
in the same latitudes ; and this fact may have an essential bearing 
upon that branch of agriculture which it is proposed to introduce 
among us — the production of silk. 

The second point of difference between the two countries lies in 
the soil. The soil of England is mainly argillaceous — a soft and 
unctuous loam upon a substratum of clay. This may be considered 
as the predominant characteristic in the parts which he visited. The 
soil in some of the southern counties of England is thinner ; some of 
it is what we should call stony ; much of it is a free, gravelly soil, 
with some small part, which, with us, would be called sandy. 
Through a great extent of country, this soil rests on a deep bed of 
chalk. Ours is a granite soil. There is granite in Great Britain ; 
but this species of soil prevails in Scotland — a part of the country 
which more resembles our own. We may have lands as good as any 
in England. Our alluvial soils on Connecticut River, and in some 
other parts of the country, are equal to any lands ; but these have 
not, ordinarily, a wide extent of clay subsoil. The soil of Massa- 
chusetts is harder, more granitic, less abounding in clay, and 
altogether more stony, than the soil of England. The surface of 
Massachusetts is more uneven, more broken with mountain ridges, 
more diversified with hill and dale, and more abundant in streams 
of water, than that of England. 

The price of land in that country — another important element in 
agricultural calculations — differs greatly from the price of land with 
us. It is three times as high as in Massachusetts, at least. 

On the other hand, the price of agricultural labor is much higher 
in Massachusetts than in England. In different parts of England, 
the price of labor is considerably various ; but it may be set down 
as twice as dear with us here. 

These are the general remarks which have suggested themselves 
in regard to the state of things abroad. Now, have we any thing 



406 



to learn from them ? Is there any thing in the condition of Eng- 
land applicable to us, or in regard to which the agriculture of 
England may be of use to Massachusetts and other countries ? 

The subject of agriculture, in England, has strongly attracted 
the attention and inquiries of men of science. They have studied 
particularly the nature of the soil. More than twenty years ago, 
Sir Humphry Davy undertook to treat the subject of the applica- 
tion of chemical knowledge to agriculture in the analysis of soils 
and manures. The same attention has been continued to the 
subject ; and the extraordinary discoveries and advances in chemical 
science, since his time, are likely to operate gready to the advan- 
tage of agriculture. The best results may be expected from them. 
These inquiries are now prosecuted in France with great enthusi- 
asm and success. We may hope for like beneficial results here 
from the application of science to the same objects. 

But although the circumstances of climate and situation, and 
nature of the soil, form permanent distinctions, which cannot be 
changed, yet there are other differences, resuking from different 
modes of culture, and different forms of applying labor ; and it is 
to these differences that our attention should be particularly di- 
rected. Here, there is much to learn. English cultivation is 
more scientific, more systematic, and more exact, a great deal, than 
ours. This is partly the result of necessity. A vast population is 
to be supported on comparatively a small surface. Lands are dear, 
rents are high, and hands, as well as mouths, are numerous. Care- 
ful and skilful cultivation is the natural result of this state of things. 
An English farmer looks not merely to the present year's crop. 
He considers what will be the condition of the land when that croj) 
is off; and wliat it will be fit for the next year. He studies to use 
his land so as not to abuse it. On the contrary, his aim is to get 
crop after crop, and still the land shall be growing better and better. 
If he would content himself with raising from the soil a large crop 
this year, and then leaving it neglected and exhausted, he would 
starve. It is upon this fundamental idea of constant production 
without exhaustion, that the system of English cultivation, and, 
indeed, of all good cultivation, is founded. England is not original 
in this. Flanders, and perhaps Italy, have been her teachers. 
This system is carried out in practice, by a well-considered rotation 
of crops. The form or manner of this rotation, in a given case, is 
determined very much by the value of the soil, and pardy by the 
local demand for particular products. But some rotation, some 
succession, some variation in the annual productions of the same 
land, is essential. No tenant could obtain a lease, or, if he should, 
could pay his rent and maintain his family, who should wholly 
disregard this. White crops are not to follow one another. White 
crops are wheat, barley, rye, oats, &,c. Our maize, or Indian 



407 

corn, must be considered a white crop ; although, from the quantity 
of stalk and leaf which it produces, and which are such excellent 
food for cattle, it is less exhausting than some other white crops ; 
or, to speak more properly, it makes greater returns to the land. 
Green crops are turnips, potatoes, beets, vetches, or tares, (which 
are usually eaten while growing, by cattle and sheep, or cut for 
green food,) and clover. Buck or beech wheat, and winter oats, — 
thought to be a very useful product, — are regarded also as green 
crops, when eaten on the land ; and so, indeed, may any crop be 
considered, w^nch is used in this way. But the turnip is the great 
green crop of England. Its cultivation has wrought such changes, 
in fifty years, that it may be said to have revolutionized English 
Agriculture. 

Before that time, when lands became exhausted by the repe- 
tition of grain crops, they were left, as it was termed, fallow; that 
is, were not cultivated at all, but abandoned to recruit themselves 
as they might. This occurred as often as every fourth year, so 
that one quarter of the arable land was always out of cultivation, 
and yielded nothing. Turnips are now^ substituted in the place of 
these naked fallows ; and now land in turnips is considered as 
fallow. What is the philosophy of this ? The raising of crops, 
even of any, the most favorable crop, does not, in itself, enrich, 
but in some degree exhausts, the land. The exhaustion of the 
land, however, as experience and observation have fully demon- 
strated, takes place mainly when the seeds of a plant are allowed 
to perfect themselves. The turnip is a biennial plant. It does 
not perfect its seed before it is consumed. There is another 
circumstance in respect to the turnip plant, which deserves con- 
sideration. 

Plants, it is well understood, derive a large portion of their 
nutriment from the air. The leaves of plants are their lungs. 
The leaves of turnips expose a wide surface to the atmosphere, 
and derive, therefore, much of their subsistence and nutriment from 
tfiese sources. The broad leaves of the turnips likewise shade the 
ground, preserve its moisture, and prevent, in some measure, its 
exhaustion by the sun and air, • 

The turnips have a further and ultimate use. Meat and clothing 
come from animals. The more animals are sustained upon a farm, 
the more meat and the more clothing. These things bear, of 
course, a proportion to the number of bullocks, sheep, swine, and 
poultry which are maintained. The great inquiry, then, is. What 
kind of crops will least exhaust the land in their cultivation, and 
furnish, at the same time, support to the largest number of animals ? 

A very large amount of land, in England, is cultivated in turnips. 
Fields of turnips of three, four, and even five, hundred acres are 
sometimes seen, though the common fields are much less ; and it 



408 



may be observed here, that in the richest and best cuhivated parts 
of England, enclosures of ten, fifteen, twenty, or thirty acres, 
seemed more common. Since the introduction of the turnip 
culture, bullocks and sheep have trebled in number. Turnips, for 
the reasons given, are not great exhausters of the soil ; and they 
furnish abundant food for animals. Let us suppose that one bushel 
of oats or barley may be raised at the same cost as ten bushels 
of turnips, and will go as far in support of stock. The great 
difference in the two crops is to be found in the farmer's barn-yard. 
Here is the test of their comparative value. This is the secret of 
the great advantages which follow from their cultivation. The 
value of manure in agriculture is well appreciated. M'Queen 
states the extraordinary fact, that the value of the animal manure 
annually applied to the crops in England, at current prices, sur- 
passes in value the whole amount of its foreign commerce. There 
is no doubt that it greatly exceeds it. The turnip crop returns a 
vast amount of nutritive matter to the soil. The farmer, then, from 
his green crops, and by a regular system of rotation, finds green 
feed for his cattle and wheat for the market. 

Among the lighter Endish soils is that of the count}^ of Nor- 
folk — a county, however, which he had not the pleasure to visit. 
Its soil, he understood, is light, a little inclined to sand, or light 
loam. Such soils are not unfavorable to roots. Here is the place 
of the remarkable cultivation and distinguished improvements of 
that eminent cultivator, Mr. Coke, now earl of Leicester, In these 
lands, he understood, a common rotation is turnips, barley, clover, 
wheat. These lands resemble much of the land in our county of 
Plymouth, and the sandy lands to be found in the vicinity of the 
Connecticut and Merrimack Rivers. The cultivation of green 
crops in New England deserves attention. There is no incapacity 
in our soil ; and there are no circumstances unfavorable to their 
production. What would be the best kind of succulent vegetables 
to be cultivated, whether turnips or carrots, he was not prepared 
to say. But no attempts, within his knowledge, had been made 
among us of a systematic agriculture; and, until we enter upon 
some regular rotation of crops, and our husbandry becomes more 
systematic, no distinguished success can be looked for. As to our 
soil, as had been remarked, there is no inherent incapacity for the 
production of any of the common crops. We could raise wheat in 
Massachusetts. The average crop in England is twenty-six bushels 
to the acre. From his own farm — and it was comparatively a thin 
and poor soil — he had obtained, this summer, seventy-six bushels 
of wheat upon three acres of land. It is not, therefore, any want 
of capability in the soil; but the improvement and success of our 
husbandry must depend upon a succession of crops adapted to the 
circumstances of our soil, climate, and peculiar condition. 



409 

In England, a large portion of the tiirnip crop is consumed on 
the land where it grows. Tlie sheep are fed out of doors all 
winter ; and he saw many large flocks, thousands and millions of 
sheep, which were never housed. This was matter of suri)rise, 
especially considering the wetness of the climate ; and these sheep 
were often exposed in fields where a dry spot could not he found 
for them to lie down upon. Sheep were often folded, in England, 
by wattled fences, or hurdles, temporarily erected in different parts 
of the field, and removed from place to place, as the portions of 
the crop were consumed. In some cases they were folded, and 
tile turnips dug and carried to them. In such case, they were 
always fed upon lands which were intended the next year to be, as 
far as practicable, brought under cultivation. He had seen many 
laborers in fields, employed in drawing the turnips, sj)litting them, 
and scattering them over the land, for the use of the sheep, which 
was considered better, often, than to leave the sheep to dig for them- 
selves. These laborers would be so employed all winter, and if 
the ground should become frozen, the turnips are taken up with a 
bar. Together with the turnips, it is thought important that sheep 
should have a small quantity of other food. Chopped hay, some- 
times a little oil cake, or oats, is usually given. This is called 
trough food, as it is eaten in troughs, standing about in the field. 
In so moist a climate as that of England, some land is so wet, that, 
in the farmer's phrase, it will not carry sheep ; that is, it is quite too 
wet for sheep to lie out upon it. In such cases, the turnips must 
be carried, that is, removed from the field, and fed out elsewhere. 
The last season was uncommonly wet, and for that reason, perhaps, 
he could not so well judge ; but it appeared to him it would be an 
improvement in English husbandry, to furnish for sheep, oftener 
than is done, not only a tolerably dry ground to lie on, but some 
sort of shelter against the cold rains of winter. The turnips, doubt- 
less, are more completely consumed, when dug, split, and fed out. 
The Swedish turnip, he had little doubt, was best suited to cold 
climates. It was scarcely injured by being frozen in the ground 
in the winter, as it would thaw again, and be still good in 
spring. In Scotland, in the Lothians, where cultivation is equal to 
that in any part of England, it is more the practice than farther 
south, to house turnips, or draw them, and cover them from frost. 
He had been greatly pleased with Scotch farming, and as the climate 
and soil of Scotland more resembled the soil and climate of Massa- 
chusetts, than those of England did, be hoped the farmers of 
Massachusetts would acquaint themselves, as well as they could, 
with Scotch husbandry. He had had the pleasure of passing 
some time in Scotland, with persons engaged in these pursuits, and 
acknowledged himself much instructed by what he learned from 
them, and saw in their company. The great extent of the use of 
VOL. III. 52 1 1 



410 

turnips, and other green crops, in Scotland, is evidence that such 
crops cannot be akogether unsuited to Massachusetts. 

Mr. Webster proceeded to state, that one of the things which 
now attracted much attention among agricuhurists in England, 
was the subject of tile-draining. This most efficient and successful 
mode of draining is getting into very extensive use. Much of the 
soil of England, as he had already stated, rested on a clayey and 
retentive subsoil. Excessive wetness is prejudicial and destruc- 
tive to the crops. Marginal drains, or drains on the outside of the 
fields, do not produce the desired results. These tile-drains have 
effected most important improvements. The tile itself is made of 
clay, baked like bricks ; about one foot in length, four inches in 
width, three fourths of an inch in thickness, and stands from six to 
eight inches in height, being hemispherical, or like the half of a 
cylinder, with its sides elongated. It resembles the Dutch tiles 
sometimes seen on the roofs of the old houses in Albany and New 
York. A ditch is sunk eighteen or twenty inches in depth, and 
these drains are multiplied, over a field, sometimes at a distance of 
only seven yards apart. The ditch, or drain, being dug, these 
tiles are laid down, with the hollow side at bottom, on the smooth 
clay, or any other firm subsoil, the sides placed near to each other, 
some little straw thrown over the joints to prevent the admission 
of dirt, and the whole covered up. This is not so expensive a 
mode of draining as might be supposed. The ditch, or drain, need 
only be narrow, and tiles are of much cheaper transportation than 
stone would be. But the result is so important as well to justify 
the expense. It is estinjated that this thorough draining adds often 
twenty per cent, to the production of the wheat crop. A beauti- 
ful example came under his observation in Nottinghamshire, not 
Ions before he left England. A gentleman was showincr him his 
grounds for next year's crop of wheat. On one side of the lane, 
where the land had been drained, the wheat was already up, and 
growing luxuriantly ; on the other, where the land was subject to 
no other disadvantage than that it had not been drained, it was 
still too wet to be sowed at all. It may be thought singular 
enough, but it was doubtless true, that on stiff, clayey lands, thor- 
ough draining is as useful in dry, hot summers, as in cold and wet 
summers ; for such land, if a wet winter or spring be suddenly 
followed by hot and dry weather, is apt to become hard and 
baked, so that the roots of plants cannot enter it. Thorough 
draining, by giving an opportunity to the water on the surface to 
be constantly escaping, corrects this evil. Draining can never be 
needed to so great an extent in Massachusetts, as in England and 
Scotland, from the different nature of the soil ; but we have yet 
quantities of low meadow lands, producing wild, harsh, sour 
grasses, or producing nothing, which, there is little doubt, might be 



411 

rendered most profitable hay-fields, by being well drained. When 
we understand better the importance of concentrating labor, instead 
of scattering it, — when we shall come to estimate, duly, the superior 
profit of " a little farm well tilled," over a great farm, half cultivated 
and half manured, overrun with weeds, and scourged with exhaust- 
ing crops, — we shall then fill our barns, and double the winter feed 
for our cattle and sheep by the products of these waste meadows. 

There was in England another mode of improvement, most im- 
portant, instances of which he had seen, and one of which he 
reo;arded as the most beautiful aimcultural improvement which had 
ever come within his observation. He meant irrigation, or the 
making of what is called water meadoics. He had first seen them 
in Wiltshire, and was much struck with them, not having before 
understood, from reading or conversation, exactly what they were. 
But he had afterwards an opportunity of examining a most signal 
and successful example of this mode of improvement, on the estates 
of the duke of Portland, in the north of England, on the borders 
of Sheru'ood forest. Indeed, it was part of the old forest. Sher- 
wood forcst, at least in its present state, is not like the pine forests 
of Maine, the heavy, hard wood forests of the unredeemed lands of 
New Hampshire and Vermont, or the still heavier timbered lands 
of the West. It embraces a large extent of country, with various 
soils, some of them thin and light, with beautiful and venerable 
oaks, of unknown age, much open ground between them and un- 
derneath their wide-spread branches, and this covered with heather, 
lichens, and fern. As a scene to the eye, and to the memory, by 
its long existence and its associations, it is beautiful and interesting. 
But in many parts, the soil is far enough from being rich. Upon 
the borders of this forest are the water meadows of which he was 
s[)eaking. A little river ran through the forest in this part, at the 
bottom of a valley, with sides moderately sloping, and of consider- 
able extent, between the river at the bottom and the common level 
of the surrounding country above. This little river, before reaching 
the place, ran through a small town, and gathered, doubtless, some 
refuse matter in its course. From this river, the water was taken, 
at the upper end of the valley, conducted along the edge, or bank, 
in a canal or carrier, and from this carrier, at proper times, suffered 
to flow out, very gently, spreading over and irrigating the whole 
surface, trickling and shining, when he saw it, (and it was then 
November,) among the light-green of the new-springing grass, and 
collected below in another canal, from which it was again let out, 
to flow in like manner over land lying still farther down towards 
the bottom of the valley. Ten years ago, this land, for production, 
was worth litde or nothing. He was told that some of it had been 
let for no more than a shilling an acre. It has not been manured, 
and yet is now most extensively productive. It is not flooded ; the 
water does not stand upon it ; it flows gently over it, and is applied, 



412 

several times in a year, to each part, say in March, May, July, 
and October. In November, when he saw it, the farmers were 
taking off the third crop of hay cut this season, and that crop was 
certainly not less than two tons to tlie acre. This last crop was 
mostly used as green food for cattle. When he spoke of the 
quantity of tons, he meant tons of dried hay. After this crop was 
off, sheep were to be put on it, to have lambs at Christmas, so as to 
come into market in March, a time of year when they command a 
high price. Upon taking off the sheep, in March, tlie land would 
be watered, the process of watering lasting two or three days, 
or perhaps eight or ten days, according to circumstances, and re- 
peated after the taking off of each successive crop. Although this 
water has, no doubt, considerable sediment in it, yet the general 
fact shows how important water is to the growth of plants, and 
how far, even, it may supply the place of other sources of sus- 
tenance. Now, we in Massachusetts have a more uneven surface, 
more valleys with sloping sides, by many times more streams, and 
such a climate that our farms suffer much oftener from drought than 
farms in England. May we not learn something useful, therefore, 
from the examples of irrigation in that country? 

With respect to implements of husbandry, Mr. Webster was of 
opinion that the English, on the whole, had no advantage over us. 
Their wagons and carts were no better; their ploughs, he thought, 
were not better any where, and in some counties far inferior, be- 
cause unnecessarily heavy. The subsoil plough, for which we 
have little use, was esteemed a useful invention, and the mole 
plough, which he had seen in operation, and the use of which was 
to make an underground drain, without disturbing the surface, 
was an ingenious contrivance, likely to be useful in clay soils, free 
from stone and gravel, but which could be little used in Massachu- 
setts. In general, he thought the English utensils of husbandry 
were unnecessarily cumbrous and heavy. The ploughs, especially, 
required a great strength of draught. But as drill husbandry was 
extensively practised in England, and very little with us, the various 
implements, or machines, for drill sowing, in that country, quite 
surpass all we have. He did not remember to have seen the 
horse-rake used in England, although he had seen in operation 
implements for spreading hay, from the swath, to dry, or rather, 
perhaps, for turning it, drawn by horses. 

There were other matters connected with English agriculture, 
upon which he might say a word or two. Crops were cultivated 
in England, of which we knew little. The common English field 
bean, a small brown bean, growing, not on a clinging vine, like 
some varieties of the taller bean, ran in what is called, with us, the 
bush form, like our common white bean, upon a slight, upright stalk, 
two or two and a half feet high, and producing from twenty to forty 
bushels to the acre. It is valuable as food for animals, especially 



413 

for horses. This bean does not grow well in thin soils, or what is 
called a hot bottom. A strong, stiff, clayey land, well manured, 
suits it best. Vetches, or tares, a sort of pea, was very much 
cultivated in England, although almost unknown here, and is there 
either eaten green, by sheep, on the land, or cut and carried for 
green food. 

The raising of sheep, in England, is an immense interest. Eng- 
land probably clips fifty millions of fleeces this year, lambs under a 
year old not being shorn. The average yield may be six or seven 
pounds to a fleece. There are two principal classes of sheep in 
England — the long wooled and the short wooled. Among these 
are many varieties, but this is the general division, or classification. 
The Leicester and the South Down belong, respectively, to these 
several families. The common clip of the former may be estimated 
from seven to eight pounds ; and of the last, from three to three 
and a half, or four. Mr. Webster mentioned these particulars only 
as estimates ; and much more accurate information might, doubdess, 
be obtained from many writers. In New England, we were just 
beginning to estimate rightly the importance of raising sheep. 
England had seen it much earlier, and was pursuing it with far 
more zeal and perseverance. Our climate, as already observed, 
differs from that of England ; but the great inquiry, applicable in 
equal force to both countries, is, How can we manage our land in 
order to produce the largest crops, while, at the same time, we 
keep up the condition of the land, and place it, if possible, in a 
course of gradual improvement ? The success of farming must 
depend, in a considerable degree, upon the animals produced and 
supported on the farm. The farmer may calculate, in respect to 
animals, upon two grounds of profit — the natural growth of the 
animal, and the weight obtanied by fattening. The skihlil farmer, 
therefore, expects, where he gains one pound in the fattening of his 
animal, to gain an equal amount in the growth. The early matu- 
rity of stock is consequently a point of much importance. 

Oxen are rarely reared in England for the yoke. In Devon- 
shire and Cornwall, ox teams are employed ; but in travelling one 
thousand miles in England, Mr. Webster saw only one ox team, 
and here they were driven one before the other, and in harnesses 
similar to the harnesses of horses. Bullocks are raised for the 
market. It is highly desirable, therefore, both in respect to neat 
cattle and sheep, that their growth should be rapid, and their 
fattening properties favorable, that they may be early disposed of, 
and consequently the expense of production lessened. 

Is it practicable, on the soil and in the climate of Massachusetts, 
to pursue a succession of crops ? He could not question it ; and 
he had entire confidence in the improvements to our husbandry, 
and the great advantages which would accrue from judicious 

II* 



414 

rotation of products. The capacities of the soil of MassachuseKs 
were undoubted. One hundred bushels of corn to an acre had 
been repeatedly produced, and other crops in like abundance. But 
this would not effect the proper ends of a judicious and profitable 
agriculture, unless we could so manage our husbandry that, by a 
judicious and proper succession of crops, the land would not only 
be restored after an exhausting crop, but gradually enriched by cul- 
tivation. It is of the highest importance that our flinners should 
increase their power of sustaining live stock, that they may therefrom 
obtain the means of improving their farms. 

The breed of cattle in England was greatly improved, and still 
improving. He had seen some of the best stocks, and many indi- 
vidual animals from others, and thought them admirable. The 
short-horned cattle brought to this country were often very good 
specimens. He said he had seen the flocks from which some of 
them had been selected, and they were certainly among the best 
in England. But in every selection of stock, we are to regard our 
own climate, and our own circumstances. We raise oxen lor work, 
as well as for beef; and he was of opinion that the Devonshire 
stock furnished excellent animals for our use. We had suffered 
that old stock, brought hither by our ancestors, to run down, and 
be deteriorated. It had been kept up, and greatly improved, in 
'England, and we might now usefully import from it. The Devon- 
shire ox is a hardy animal, of size and make suited to the plough, 
and though certainly not the largest for beef, yet generally very 
well fattened. He thought quite well, also, of the Ayrshire cows. 
They were good milkers, and being a hardy race, were, on that 
account, well suited to the cold climate, and to the coarse and 
sometimes scanty pasturage, of New England. After all, he thought 
there could be no doubt that the improved breed of short horns 
were the finest cattle in the world, and should be preferred wherever 
plenty of good feed and some mildness of climate invited them. 
They were well fitted to the Western States, where there is an over- 
flowing abundance, both of winter and summer feed, and where, 
as in England, bullocks are raised for beef only. He had no 
doubt, also, that they might be usefully raised in the rich valleys 
of the Connecticut, and perhaps in some other favored parts of the 
State. But, for himself, as a farmer on the thin lands of Plymouth 
county, and on the bleak shores of the sea, he did not feel that he 
could give to animals of this breed that entertainment which their 
merit deserved. 

As to sheep, the Leicester were like the short-horned cattle. 
They must be kept well ; they should always be fat ; and, pressed 
by good keeping to early maturity, they are found very profitable. 
" Feed well," was the maxim of the great Roman farmer, Cato ; 
and that short sentence comprises much of all that belongs to the 
profitable economy of live stock. The South Downs are a good 



415 

breed, both for wool and mutton. They crop the grass that grows 
on the thin soils, over beds of chalk, in Wiltshire, Hampshire, and 
Dorsetshire. They ought not to scorn the pastures of New 
England. 

When one looks, said Mr. Webster, to the condition of Eng- 
land, he must see of what immense importance is every, even the 
smallest, degree of improvement in ils agricultural productions. 
Suppose that, by some new discovery, or some improved mode of 
culture, only one per cent, could be added to the annual results of 
English cultivation ; this, of itself, would materially affect the com- 
fortable subsistence of millions of human beings. It was often said 
that England was a garden. This was a strong metaphor. There 
was poor land, and some poor cultivation, in England. All people 
are not equally industrious, careful, and skilful. But, on the 
whole, England was a prodigy of agricultural wealth. Flanders 
might possibly surpass it. He had not seen Flanders ; but Eng- 
land quite surpassed, in this respect, whatever he had seen. In as- 
sociations for the improvement of agriculture, we had been earlier 
than England. But such associations now exist there. He had the 
pleasure of attending the first meeting of the National Agricultural 
Society, and he had found it a very pleasant and interesting occa- 
sion. Persons of the highest distinction for rank, talents, and 
wealth, were present, all zealously engaged in efforts for the pro- 
motion of the agricultural interest. No man in England was so 
high as to be independent of the success of this great interest ; no 
man so low as not to be affected by its prosperity, or its decline. 
The same is true, eminently and emphatically true, with us. Ag- 
riculture feeds us ; to a o-reat degree it clothes us ; without it we 
could not have manufactures, and we should not have commerce. 
These all stand together, but they stand together like pillars in a 
cluster, the largest in the centre, and that largest is agriculture. 
Let us remember, too, that we live in a country of small farms 
and freehold tenements ; a country in which men cultivate with 
their own hands their own fee-simple acres, drawing not only their 
subsistence, but also their spirit of independence, and manly free- 
dom, from the ground they plough. They are at once its owners, 
its cultivators, and its defenders. And, whatever else may be 
undervalued, or overlooked, let us never forget that the cultivation 
of the earth is the most important labor of man. Man may be 
civilized, in some degree, without great progress in manufactures, 
and with little commerce with his distant neighbors. But without 
the cultivation of the earth, he is, in all countries, a savage. Until 
he steps from the chase, and fixes himself in some place, and seeks 
a living from the earth, he is a roaming barbarian. When tillage 
begins, other arts follow. The formers, therefore, are the founders 
of human civilization. 



REMARKS 



IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, MARCH 3, 1840, IN 
ANSWER TO SOME PARTS OF MR. CALHOUN'S SPEECH. 



Mr. Webster said it was not his purpose, at present, to enter 
far into the wide field of debate which was opened by this discus- 
sion. Another opportunity would probably present itself for the 
expression of his opinions upon the general state of the country, 
and the measures which he thought to be called for by the crisis. 
My single purpose now, said Mr. Webster, is to make a few remarks 
upon tiie speech of the honorable member from South Carolina, 
delivered some days ago, or, rather, upon some of die topics of that 
speech. I had not the pleasure of hearing the speech, but I have 
read it attentively, with the respect due to the subject and to the 
author ; and the remarks which I propose to make upon it I desire to 
address to the honorable member himself, and his friends who think 
with him, as well as to the rest of the country. It is an able speech, 
showing much thought and reflection, as well as much acuteness, 
and exhibiting, on the whole, a spirit apparently not unkind to- 
wards all the great interests of the country. My remarks shall be 
in the same spirit. 

I. In treating of protection, or protecting duties, the first propo- 
sition of the honorable member is, that all duties laid on imports 
really fall on exports ; that they are a toll paid for going to market. 
This, certainly, is not very obvious ; but he says it is the received 
and setded doctrine of the South. He does not argue the point on 
this occasion ; he only states it as the fixed belief of the South. I 
shall not argue it, but content myself with saying that I have never 
been able to agree to this doctrine. The question was debated 
with much ability, some years ago, between my honorable colleague 
and a distinguished gendcman from South Carolina — both being, 
at that time, members of the other House. The South Carolina 
doctrine was then called the " Forty-bale Theory ; " and the result 
of the discussion certainly left most of us in the North still adhering 
to the old doctrine, viz., that when duties are laid upon imported 
articles, it is the consumer who pays ; and, of course, that each part 
of the country pays in exact proportion to what it consumes. We 
think that the trade outwards has little or nothing to do with the 
subject. We think the substantial question is, Who consumes the 

416 



417 

taxed article? I can, indeed, conceive a possible case in which 
tliis general truth m'.glit be quallfK^l. If one country exported to 
another a raw material which it could sell nowhere else, and which 
no other country could furnish, why, then, so far as duties on im- 
ports affected the sale of fdjrics manufactured from that raw mate- 
rial, or, perhap'5, other articles imported into the country producing 
it as its equivalent in return, so far it might be tme that the duties 
would have an influence to check exportation. But no such case 
exists with us. The South and the West sell their cotton both at 
home and abroad. But they are not the sole producers of cotton. 
They have competitors. There is a market on both continents ; 
and in one of them they find the cotton of South America, Texas, 
India, and Egypt, in a struggle for prices with their own. Our 
Southern and Western States have a fair demand ; nothing ob- 
structs their sales ; as in all other cases, the prices are regulated by 
the supply and the demand. They pay no duty on going out, and 
if they can produce as cheaply as others, they can afford to sell as 
cheap. Their commodity, sold in foreign markets, mingles with 
the commerce of the world. They have received their price for 
it, and their connection with it has ceased. Whether it comes 
back here in a manufactured shape, or goes elsewhere, is no matter 
to them, as mere raisers and sellers of the article. If any portion 
of it comes back here, — as doubtless it does, — it is a portion which 
has been purchased in the general market of Europe, manufactured, 
and, perhaps, mixed, in the very process, with the cotton of other 
countries, and reaches our shores as a foreign article for sale. For- 
eign labor and skill have become incorporated with it, and consti- 
tute its chief value. At our custom-house, it is made subject to a 
duty, which is supposed to raise its price ; and, it seems to me, if 
tliis be the effect of the duty, it is its whole effect. It reaches no 
farther. I do not see how it acts back upon the original grower 
of the article in South Carolina. It no more affects the cotton- 
grower in South Carolina, except so far as he is a consumer, than 
it affects the cotton-grower in South America, India, or Egypt. 
The thread of causes and effects in this case, if there be any such 
thread, becomes quite too fine and attenuated to be felt or followed, 
from the higher price paid by the consumer, in consequence of the 
duty, back, through all the intermediate stages, to the influence of 
that higher price upon the original cost of the raw material. The 
san)e is true in regard to all imported articles not produced from 
the exported cotton. How is it possible to say that duties on such 
articles — iron and woollen cloths, for instance — are a burden or 
discouragement on the raising of cotton ? 

But suppose I admit the South Carolina doctrine — suppose I ad- 
mit that duties on imported merchandise really fall back, and become 
a charge on the exports of the country ; and suppose I admit, what 
VOL. III. 53 



418 

is true, that cotton grown In the Southern States constitutes a great 
portion of our exports — it does by no means follow from all this 
that the burden of these duties falls on the South, in proportion to 
the exports which leave its ports. And the reason is this : Tliese 
exports are not altogether the result of the skill, labor, or capital, of 
the South. Cotton, though it grows exclusively on Southern fields, 
is not, in truth, a mere Southern product. Much of the labor of 
the Middle and Northern States has mingled with it before it be- 
comes an article of export. It is a joint production, to which many 
parts of the country contribute. The grain-growing States north 
of the Ohio help to raise and to export cotton, by furnishing pro- 
visions to those who cultivate and gather it. Kentucky and Ten- 
nessee do the same thing, by the cattle, horses, mules, and swine, 
upon the foot, which they supply for the use of the cotton planta- 
tions. New England does the same by the furniture, clothing, 
and other manufactured articles, which she supplies for the like 
purpose. All these contribute to this export of cotton. So that, 
if if were true that duties at the custom-house on imported goods 
are a tax on exports, that tax would not fall exclusively on the 
South. 

The value of this export, again, in the foreign market, is en- 
hanced by the cost of transportation. Freight has become incor- 
porated with it, and makes part of its price. At present prices, 
freight to Europe is probably equal to one eighth of the cost of 
the article at New Orleans or Mobile. This freight is a Northern 
earning; and to this extent, therefore, the navigating interest con- 
tributes to the value of the exported article. So that duties, if 
they were a tax on exports, would not fall exclusively on the 
South, but would affect the grain-growing, the provision-raising, 
the stock-raising, the hemp-raising, the manufacturing, and the 
navigating interests. 

But the more we trace this branch of the business of the country, 
or any other, through all its processes, and all its ramifications, the 
more clearly we shall see, I think, that the old rule is the true rule, 
and that duties on imported goods are paid by different parts of the 
country, exactly in proportion to their consumption. 

II. Another opinion of the honorable member is, that increased 
production brings about expansion of the currency, and that every 
such increase makes a further increase necessary. 

His idea is, that if some goods are manufactured at home, less 
will be imported ; if less goods be imported, the amount of exports 
still keeping up, the whole export being thus not paid for by the 
import, specie must be brought in to settle the balance ; that this 
increase of specie gives new powers to the banks to discount ; that 
the banks thereupon make large issues, till the mass of currency 
become redundant and swollen ; that this swollen currency aug- 



419 

ments tfie price of productions, in our own manuractorie?!, and 
makes it necessary to raise still higher the prices of their products ; 
and this creates a demand for the imposition of new duties. Tiiis, 
as I understand it, is the honorable member's idea. 

Now, it appears to me that there are several things worthy 
of consideration, in regard to this supposed course and progress 
of things. 

In the first place, it is far from being always true that impor- 
tations fall off' in consequence of carrying on some branches of 
manufacture at home. Our history certainly shows no such result, 
looking through the whole of it, for twenty years. If there be a 
large export, the return, i[ not made in one article, will generally 
be made in some other. It will usually happen in some way that, 
taking all branches of the trade of the country with all other 
countries together, the imports, in a series of years, will be about 
equal to the amount of exports, and the earnings of freights. We 
have now a list of free articles, of some of which the importations 
have been not only large, but extravagant; quite large enough, at 
any rate, to absorb exports ; and quite too large, in my opinion, 
for the good of the country. 

The gentleman very properiy admits that specie cannot, for a 
great length of time, set towards our country, from all others, to 
settle balances of trade, and to make up the deficiency of imports 
in relation to exports. Specie does, indeed, come to pay up an 
occasional balance in the trade between a particular country and 
the rest of the worid, and it soon goes away again, to supply a 
deficiency in the place it came from, or some other place. There 
are vibrations in trade, and gold and silver correct these vibrations. 
But there are other causes, which sometimes operate with more 
violence. Disorders in the currency, and expected short crops, a 
political crisis, the fear of war, a panic of any kind, — any of these 
things is able to disturb the natural course of commercial dealings, 
and to arrest gold and silver, while they are peaceably performing 
the common functions of trade. Hence, if we see a very large 
import of specie in any one year, it does not necessarily follow that 
our imports have, to that extent, fallen short of our exports. This 
import of specie may be owing to one or more of the extraneous 
causes above mentioned ; and in not alluding to these causes, I 
cannot but think the gentleman overlooked a matter very important 
to be observed. In our trade with some particular countries, too, 
the return is in specie in a very great proportion. And as this trade 
is very irregular, the quantities of specie received from it in differ- 
ent years are very unequal. Thus, in 183.3, the whole import of 
specie into the country was seven millions; the next year, 1834, it 
was seventeen millions. In 1836, it was thirteen millions; in 1837, 
it fell to ten millions; and in 1838, rose up again to seventeen 



T 



420 

minions. Such fluctuations find no corresponding alternations, cer» 
tainly, in the general balance between exports and imports. The 
general truth is undeniable, that the tendency of gold and silver, 
in the ordinary operations of commerce, is to flow to that country 
which has become a creditor country by the excess of its exports 
over its imports ; but then their general tendency is so often di- 
verted or arrested by the interference of other causes, that the 
amount of importation or exportation of specie for a given year, is 
not a criterion by which the balance of trade, or the amount of 
exports compared with imports for that year, can be decided. 

A great portion of the specie imported into the United States 
comes from South America and Cuba, by way of New Orleans 
and other ports, and is the return for provisions, and more largely 
for manufactured articles, shipped to those countries. This fact is 
important, and deserves consideration in acting upon all subjects of 
this kind. It is undoubtedly true that the manufactures of the 
country bring into it a large supply of specie from South America 
and the West Indies. 

The honorable gentleman, in maintaining his proposition that 
protection leads to an expansion of the currency, argues that the 
tariff of 1828 turned the balance of foreign trade in our favor; that 
this brought in specie; that the like cause turned the domestic 
trade in favor of the manufacturing States ; and that the expansion 
of circulation, of which he exhibits tables, in those States, is thus 
distinctly traced to the effect of protection, as tending to bring gold 
and silver into the country. But all this, 1 think, admits of doubt. 
Post hoc, ergo propter hoc, is not received as good logic. It strikes 
me, this import of silver, and, therefore, the expansion, so far as 
it resulted from that Import, is quite as likely to be referable to the 
other causes which I have already mentioned. The specie, it is 
said, was collected in masses in the North, and there the currency 
was expanded. But was it not expanded, too, in the South ? The 
gentleman's tables only show four or five Northern States ; but how 
was it, and how is it, in the cotton-growing States ? Has_ there 
been no expansion in IMlssissippi, Alabama, or less expansion in 
those States than in Massachusetts and Rhode Island ? It will be 
found, I think, that there was the least expansion just where it is 
said the specie was thus brought in by the course of trade. 

The next stage in the gentleman's argument is, that this sup- 
posed expansion of the currency would increase the cost of pro- 
ducing manufactured articles at home. How increase the cost? 
In no way but by increasing the price of labor. Now, I do not 
learn from him any facts showing that labor rose, greatJij, in price, 
after the tariff of 1828. If it kept up to what it had been, I incline 
to think that was all. The object, and, I think, the effect, of the 
tariff of 1828, was not so much to raise prices high, as it was to 



421 

keep the market steady, to give some check to the extravagant 
amount of foreign importations, and some security that labor sliould 
receive a reasonable reward. That is all that was asked. But 
the great abundance of capital abroad, the low rate of interest, and 
the great sacrifices, which were willingly made, for the purposes of 
prostrating our establisliments, called for some security and protec- 
tion, or we were not likely to be able to maintain competition. 
And we are always to remember that, when o^r own manufactures 
shall be prostrated by the extremely low prices of imported goods, 
then we shall be obliged immediately to pay extremely high prices 
for those same imported goods. The fact undoubtedly is, that, 
under the process of protection, the common price or cost of goods 
has become less. No one can deny that. Every body knows that 
goods are better and cheaper. A man's labor will buy more for 
liim than it would. This is the effect of competition. If we take 
out of the market the products of our own labor, who does not see 
that prices would rise enormously ? Let this be tried on any arti- 
cle. Take away, for instance, all American-made hats and shoes ; 
would not the article be immediately doubled in price? Reason- 
able protection does not so much raise the price of labor, although 
it should raise it in some degree, as it diverges its uses, and multi- 
plies its employments. It prevents any particular channel from 
being filled and choked up. One of the secrets of prosperity is, 
that there shall be a considerable variety in the pursuits and labors 
of men. I fear our Southern friends do not feel the full influence 
of this important truth. For my part, as a well-wisher to the 
South. I should be "lad to know that there were manufactures, 
such as were suited to their wants, the value of their labor, and 
their general condition, in every county, from this place to the 
Gulf of Mexico. 

There is still another point of view in which I wish to present 
the question to the consideration of the honorable gentleman. 
Suppose the Southern States to produce, every year, the same 
quantity of cotton. If more be manufactured at home, less will be 
exported. Now, the honorable member seems to me to reason as 
if the whole true object or interest of the South was to export. 
But certainly this cannot be so. The object and interest of the 
cotton-growing States is to sell, not to export. If they find a cus- 
tomer at home who pays a good price, their object is answered. 
The true question, therefore, in this respect, is, not whether they 
export as much, but whether they sell as much, and at as good 
prices ; and unless all the rules of trade are false, the fact of there 
being two markets for the sale of a commodity, instead of one, 
tends strongly to keep up, and to keep steady, the price of the ar- 
ticle to be sold. 

in. There is a third general idea of the honorable gentleman, 
upon which I would make a few observations. 

J J 



422 

It is, that the South and West are the great consumers of the 
products of the manufacturers of the North and East ; that the 
cajiaclty of the South to consume depends on her great staples ; 
and that the sale of these depends mainly on a foreign market. 

Now, I have already said that if the South can sell her cotton, 
or part of it, to New England, for the same prices, it is as well for 
her as to sell it all to Old England. Her income depends on the 
price, not on the place of sale. If an export of sixty millions is 
reduced to an export of forty millions, in consequence of there hav- 
ing been found a market at home for twenty millions, it is not only 
no worse for the South, but is, in truth, much better. This is 
perfectly plain ; and I must confess it has always appeared to me 
to be the strangest thing in the world that our Southern friends 
should look with jealousy and ill-will on a market rising up in the 
North and East for their own great staple ; thus not only giving 
them the general advantage of another large market, — which ad- 
vantage is itself always great, — but giving them the additional 
advantage of a nearer market, and a more certain and steady mar- 
ket, because not so liable to be disturbed either by the political 
events or the commercial contingencies of Europe. I have in- 
quired much into this subject, and I find that intelligent merchants 
in New Orleans and Mobile regard the home market as of very 
great importance to the cotton-planter. The Eastern demand, 
they say, comes in early, takes away the first part of the crop, 
and helps, therefore, to fix the price, and to fix it high. Some 
have estimated this advantage as equivalent to two cents on the 
pound of cotton. All must see, I think, that it is a dear and great 
advantage, and I wish the subject might be calmly considered 
and weighed by the honorable member from South Carolina and 
his friends. 

But, at any rate, the fact that some portion of her annual prod- 
uct, instead of being exported, is sold at home, cannot possibly 
diminish the capacity of the South to buy and consume the manu- 
Aictured articles of the East, or any other articles. The cotton- 
planter sends his crop to New York ; it is there sold, and all at the 
same price. How does it affect his income, or his ability to pur- 
chase what he wants, — whether all his cotton, so sold, be sent to 
Europe, or part of it carried to be manufactured in Massachusetts ? 

But, now, look to the other side. Of what consequence is it to 
the North and East that the South is able to buy their productions, 
if overwhelming importations from abroad render them unable to 
sustain competition ? If the cheaper labor of Europe underbids 
them in every thing, — if these frequent inundations of foreign 
commodities break up their establishments, — how are they benefited 
by the ability of the South to buy and consume ? So that, turn it 
as we will, it all comes back to the steady price and security of 



423 

labor. And all the theories lately started, and pressed with so 
much earnestness, go direcdy and necessarily to one point ; and 
that is, the reduction of the price of labor. On this I might say 
much, but, at present, will confine myself to one or two remarks. 

In the first place, when labor is employed, labor can consume ; 
when it is not employed, it cannot consume. Who buys the pork 
and the lard of the North-Westem States? Who takes the corn of 
North Carolina and Virginia, and the flour of the latter State ? Is it 
not the North and the East? Virginia and Carolina have no better 
customer than Massachusetts. To say nothing of the amount of 
naval stores received from North Carolina, and used by the navi- 
gating interest of the East, let me only refer to bread stuffs. Two 
millions of bushels of corn, and four hundred diousand barrels of 
flour, have been imported into the single city of Boston in one year. 
Most of this corn is from North Carolina and Virginia, and much 
of the flour from Virginia. 1 find it has been estimated that up- 
wards of six miUions of dollars have been paid by Massachusetts 
for bread stuffs imported in a single year. All this is consumed and 
paid for by employed labor. Take away employment from our 
labor, or drive it from its accustomed pursuits, and its power of 
consumption is at an end. 

But not only does the protection of labor in the North and 
East enable it to buy the products of the South, but all protection 
of labor increases general consumption. Hence we find that the 
manufacture of many useful articles at home does not diminish the 
aggregate amount of importations. This is a very important truth, 
and all our history confirms it. I have looked at the tables of ex- 
ports and imports, from the very first origin of this Government, 
and I do not find any thing to countenance the idea that imports, 
In the aggregate, fall off in consequence of protecting labor at 
home. There were quite as great fluctuations forty or forty-five 
years ago, as there have been since the tariff of 1824. A well- 
employed and prosperous community can buy and consume. An 
ill-employed community cannot buy and consume. This is the 
solution of the whole matter, and the whole science of political 
economy has not one truth of half so much importance as this. 

One word more. The experiment of low wages has been often 
tried. We see it going on now in Asia and many parts of Europe. 
My colleague has recently given us a list of the prices of labor in 
various countries. We know what those countries are, and what 
the condition of the people is. 

On the other hand, we have tried the experiment of high wages ; 
and have we not made the best condition of society, for the gen- 
eral happiness of all classes, that has ever existed upon the face of 
the earth ? 

IV. A fourth sentiment of the honorable member is, that the 



424 

removal of all duties increases the exportation of articles manu- 
factured at home. 1 cannot conceive how this can be true. It 
foreigners can beat us in our own market, they can beat us else- 
where. The exports of domestic articles, in the years stated in 
the tables which the honorable gentleman has read, are not at all 
referable, I think, to any such cause as he supposes ; that is to say, 
some natural cause necessarily producing such a result. The 
truth is, that prices fell, at that time, in consequence of excessive 
importations from Europe, and the holders of our own manufactured 
goods were obliged to get rid of them, by exportation or otherwise, 
in the best manner they could. It is known that our exports 
of manufactured articles have been very variable and irregular. 
When importations have been great, and prices become reduced, 
then exportation has taken place. Our manufacturers have, in 
many instances, shown much skill in the fabrication of articles 
suited to foreign markets. For a while, they have been successful, 
in some degree ; but the English have always been ready to imi- 
tate them, and profit by their example. If a particular aiticle, 
manufactured in the United States, has been found capable of 
being sold to a profit in the Mediterranean, in South Ameiica, in 
India, or in China, the Enghsh manufacturer has immediately set 
himself to work to produce a similar article, and to drive the Amer- 
ican article out of the market, by a like article afforded at a lower 
price, because the result of cheaper labor. These English articles 
have been sold as American products. The stamp of " Lowell," 
and ''■ Tremont Mills," or " Lavv'rence Mills," has been found in 
Asia, and in South America, on articles manufactured at Man- 
chester. 

V. Finally, the honorable member is of opinion that the whole 
system of protection was prostrated, and is prostrated, cut up, root 
and branch, and exterminated forever, by the State interposition of 
South Carolina. He has often expressed this opinion before. I 
only take notice of it now, as he has expressed it very strongly, 
and as it leads me to fear that I have been wrong in the expecta- 
tion which I have been willing to cherish, that he himself would 
see bodi the justice and the political wisdom of giving moderate 
and reasonable protection, and of continuing it, so long as necessary, 
to some of the great, leading, and important branches of domestic 
industry. 

I have only to add, that I wish men of all parties, who entertain 
the opinion that duties on imports fall heavily and unequally on the 
South, would calmly reconsider that opinion. Look to the great 
article of woollen cloths ; where are they most consumed, because 
most necessary ? Our laborers cannot, and must not, be left shiv- 
ering under a Northern sky, with the slight clothing which may be 
suflicient to protect the laborer of the South. They must have 



425 

woollens, and they pay the price for them ; and pay the price en- 
hanced, if enhanced, by the duties ; and pay it willingly, for the 
sake of being secured in the hopes of a reasonable reward for their 
labor. This heavy article, one of those which pays most revenue, 
is consumed in the North, out of all proportion, more than in the 
South. Look to iron, another important article. The remarks 
applicable to woollens are applicable to this also ; and the more so, 
as the manufacturing districts themselves are great consumers of 
iron. The same may be said of lead, and many other articles. 

Sir, it is not my object to show that the South does not pay her 
part of the public contributions. I admit, most cheerfully, that she 
does pay her part ; but my purpose has been to show, if I could, 
that she does not bear so unequal and unjust a portion of the pub- 
lic burdens as the gentleman has supposed. I am quite sure that a 
calm and dispassionate consideration of this whole subject, by in- 
telligent and enlightened men, on either side of the Potomac, would 
result in the conviction that there is really no such wide difference, 
in regard to what the interests of the different parts of the country 
require, as ought either to endanger the security of the Union, or 
create ill-will. For myself, I fully and conscientiously believe that, 
in regard to this whole question, the interest of the North and East 
is entirely reconcilable to the real, solid, and permanent interest 
of the South and West. 

VOL. HI. 54 jj* 



SPEEC 



m THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, MARCH 30, 1810, ON THE 

TREASURY NOTE BILL. 



I REGRET, Mr. President, that the chairman of the committee is 
absent, as he might probably have made use of this occasion, not 
only to show the necessity of raising this sum of five millions, for 
the immediate use of Government, by some extraordinary means, 
but also to state his opinions upon the public revenue, both in re- 
gard to its present state and its prospect for the future. 

The sum and substance of the measure now before us is, to bor- 
row five millions of dollars, for two years, if necessary, and to pay 
therefor any rate of interest not exceeding six per cent. This 
borrowing is to be done by means of issuing Treasury notes, bearing 
interest ; and, so often as they shall be received at the Treasury, 
they are to be re-issued, so that the whole sum of five millions may 
be kept out. And the authority to issue and re-issue is to last 
one year. The consequence of this is, that, one year from the 
date of the bill, if the whole five millions be not then outstanding, 
the balance may be issued, redeemable in a year from that time. 
It is a power, therefore, to make a loan, for five millions, with an 
authority to continue that loan, by borrowing to-day to repay the 
sum borrowed yesterday, and to continue this process, in effect, for 
two years. This is the substance of the bill. 

Mr. President, at the opening of the session, the President of the 
United States informed Congress that the financial operations of the 
Government for the past year had been very successful. 

The Secretary, too, in the very first paragraph of his annual 
report, stated, with much satisfaction, that the revenue of the Gov- 
ernment had been increased, and the expenditures diminished. 

That the resources of the country are abundant, no one can 
doubt. Its wealth, its activity, its commerce, and its freedom from 
burdensome taxation, render it able to raise, with entire facility, a 
revenue quite equal to all the just wants and necessities of the 
Government. But, notwithstanding these congratulations of the 
President and Secretary, I cannot but entertain a doubt whether, 
under the operations of provisions now actually existing, and under 
the expenditures which have been made, and are making, or are in 

423 



427 

anticipation, it is prudent to indulge in sanguine hopes of an over- 
flowing Treasury. The doubt receives countenance from the fact 
that the bill before us is to authorize the borrowing of five millions, 
in the form of Treasury notes, and under such circumstances as 
leave no reasonable hope, as I think, of their redemption within 
this year. I do not oppose the bill, but I propose to say a few 
words on the state of the Treasury, and on the history of its receipts 
and disbursements for the last three years. 

We learn, from the Secretary's annual communication, that, at 
the commencement of this year, there was in the Treasury no more 
than a million and a half of dollars available for the purposes of 
Government. I omit fractions, and use round numbers, for the 
sake of brevity. At the same time, the Government owed, on out- 
standing Treasury notes bearing interest, two millions and three 
quarters, or two millions seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars. 

This was the state of the Treasury January 1, 1840, as near as 
the Secretary could estimate or ascertain it in December. It turns 
out, from the paper just read, that, in fact, there were a few 
hundred thousand dollars more in the Treasury in January than the 
Secretary's estimate, but from what funds or sources does not ap- 
pear ; and this circumstance does not affect the general view which 
1 propose to take. 

Let us now go back to January 1, 1837. In 1836, there being 
a great surplus in the Treasury, the deposit law was passed, by 
wliich five millions were to be reserved in the Treasury, in aid of 
accruing revenues that should be in the Treasury January 1, 1837, 
to meet future demand, and the rest of the money divided, in de- 
posits, with the States, by four quarterly payments or instalments. 

As the Secretary was obliged to make his calculation a little 
before the 1st of January, and could not say, exactly, what amount 
might be in the Treasury at the time, he made a safe allowance ; 
and it happened, in the end, I think, that six millions and more 
were retained in the Treasury instead of five. At the connnence- 
ment of 1837, then, the Government had on hand six millions ; 
and it had before it the whole accruing revenue of the year. Be- 
fore the year was out, — that is to say, in the September session, — 
Congress suspended the payment of the last or fourth instalrfient, 
or fourth deposit to the States. This measure retained in the 
Treasury a further sum of nine millions, thus raising the reserved 
agirregatc up to fifteen millions. Subsequently, the Treasury re- 
ceived from the Pennsylvania Bank of the United States five 
millions of dollars, as part of the property, or capital, of the United 
States in the former bank. This swelled the amount to twenty 
millions. So that, since January, 1837, the Treasury has had full 
twenty millions of former receipts, as well as all revenues arising 
since. 



428 

Now, it is apparent that these twenty millions have been ex- 
pended within the three years, in addition to all the revenue which 
has accrued in the mean time, with one deduction, which I shall 
state. It is true, that, in September, 1837, Congress suspended, or 
postponed, the payment of certain custom-house bonds; but the 
time of postponement has long since expired, and the bonds have 
been paid. It is true, also, that the deposit banks, in 1837, held 
certain sums belonging to Government, which they wished time to 
pay. But, before the commencement of this year, these debts had 
been brought down to a million of dollars, or thereabouts. The 
true account, then, stands thus : — 

Reserved under the Deposit Act, ^6,000,000 

Amount of fourth deposit held back from the States, . 9,000,000 
Received from the Bank of the United States, . . 5,000,000 
Borrowed on Treasury notes, outstanding Jan. 1, 1840, 2,750,000 

22,750,000 
Deduct amount in Treasury January 1, 1840, . . . 1,550.000 

21,200,000 
Deduct amount still due from deposit banks, . . . 1,000,000 

Balance, ^20,200,000 

Twenty millions two hundred thousand dollars, then, appear to 
have been expended in the three years between January, 1837, 
and January, 1840, besides all the receipts from the custom-house, 
and land-offices, and all other sources. 

If there be any error in this general statement, I hope some 
gentleman will point it out, and I will cheerfully make the neces- 
sary correction. My object is to be accurate as well as distinct. 
But, if there be no error, — if this statement be true, as I suppose, 
— then the result certainly is, that, for the last three years, the 
Government has expended almost seven millions a year beyond its 
income, and has supplied the deficiency out of funds previously 
acquired or received. The six millions reserved under the de- 
posit law, the nine millions afterwards withheld from the States, 
the five millions received from the bank, — all these were funds 
previously acquired, and none of them any part of the income of 
1837, 1838, or 1839. All the income and revenue of those 
years have been expended, and these twenty millions more. 

This general state of the Treasury, and the history of revenue 
and expenditure for the last three years, may well awaken atten- 
tion. We have no twenty millions more in crib to go to. Our 
capital is expended. There will be two millions and a half due 
from the Bank of the United States in September, and there is a 



429 

small balance still due from the deposit banlcs ; both together not 
eKceediiit^ three millions and a half; and for the rest we are to rely 
on the u^ual sources, the cnstom-liouse and the land-offices. 

Now, then, the important questions are, Does the Administration 
expect an augmentation of income? 

Or does it expect such a reduction of expenditure as shall keep 
it within the income ? 

Or does it contemplate loans, either in the form of Treasury- 
notes, or otherwise, to make up deficiencies? 

And, if the last, to what extent? 

The present measure is to auihorize the immediate issue of five 
millions in Treasury notes, for the purpose of being paid out to 
persons having claims on Government, or used as means of borrow- 
ing money for the necessities of tlie Treasury. 

1 do not propose to oppose the passage of the bill, because I 
tliink it quite clear that the money is needed, in order to carry on 
the Government. There are, indeed, objections to this form of 
borrowing money. For it is a borrowing of money, to all intents 
and pui'poses. The Secretary, indeed, in a recent communication 
to the Senate, does not call it horroiving. He avoids tliat word, 
as if he were afraid it would burn his mouth. He calls it only 
" exchanging Treasury notes for specie." This falls under that 
form of statement novv usually called humbug. The Secretary 
receives money, gives for it his Treasury notes, payable a year 
hence, and bearing an interest of five or six per cent. But this, he 
thinks, is not borrowing money ; it is only " exchanging his notes 
for money ; " — a sort of exchange, I believe, which most borrow ers 
are obliged to conform to. The authority, and the only authority, 
under which he makes this marvellous " exchange," is a section of 
the law of 1837, which authorizes him to " borrow money." 

I cannot say that I think the communication of the Secretary, to 
which 1 have referred, is a very full or clear answer to the call of 
the Senate. But we learn from it, after all, what I was sure must 
have existed, and which it may be of some importance to show. 
He admits that deposits have been made to the credit of the 
Treasurer, in certain banks; and that thereupon such banks have 
received Treasury notes to a corresponding amount. And the 
Treasurer, in a letter accompanying the Secretary's report, says 
that these funds are drawn for as other funds, and not specifically. 
The Secretary says these deposits are special, and in specie. All 
this is humbug again ; for all deposits in banks are regarded as 
specie deposits while banks pay specie, and the Treasurer, as I 
have remarked, says expressly that these sums, thus deposited, are 
drawn for, when needed, in common with other funds, and not 
specifically, or separately. This idea, or this delusion, or this pre- 
tence, — for it hardly deserves a respectable name, — about special 



430 

specie deposits, was sufficiently dissipated by tlie examination, 
last year, into the conduct of the banks connected with the iN'ew 
York custom-house. When the banks pay specie, a special 
deposit is nothing but a deposit in specie, or its equivalent ; and 
the amount is paid out, on draft, in specie or its equivalent. And 
this is the case with all other deposits of money, unless it be left in 
kegs or bags, and not carried into the general account of the bank. 
Any one may see how this is, and has been, who will n^cur to the 
evidence of the cashier of the Bank of America, on the occasion 
which I have referred to. As I have already said, the Treasurer 
informs us that these deposits are mixed with other funds belong- 
ing to the United States in the same bank. That is to say, they 
all stand together, to his credit, on the books of the bank, and he 
draws as he has occasion, just as is done by any other dealer with 
the bank. This is the whole of it. Special specie deposit is a 
nonentity. 

Now, it is easy to see that this mode of obtaining money from 
the banks may be of very considerable profit to them. Suppose a 
bank deposits a million of dollars to the credit of the Treasury, and 
receives therefor a million of dollars in Treasury notes, bearing an 
interest of six per cent. Interest immediately accrues to the bank, 
of course, on the whole of this sum ; but it may be many months 
before it is all drawn out. The Treasury may give out its drafts 
slowly, and these drafts, when made, may be sent to distant parts 
of the country, and be some considerable time in reaching the 
bank. When they arrive, the bank will generally pay in its own 
notes ; but, beside this advantage, it will make a clear gain, be- 
cause it has been receiving interest on more money than it has 
parted with. 

Under the law of 1836, the deposit banks were required to pay 
interest on Government deposits. The present system looks very 
much like making Government pay the banks interest on its own 
deposits. 

There are objections, I repeat, to the use of Treasury notes, as 
means of borrowing money. In the first place, the interest must 
be higher than on a loan contracted in the common manner. The 
greater part of all the Treasury notes issued since 1837, have borne 
an interest of six per cent. ; whereas my information is, — and I have 
htde doubt of the correctness of it, — that United States stock, bear- 
ing 4^ per cent, interest, could be readily sold at par abroad, not 
having any great number of years to run ; or it could readily be 
sold at home, with a view of sending it abroad. 

In the next place, Treasury notes, bearing a high interest, and 
redeemable at any time, upon two months' notice, issued under the 
present circumstances of the country, are very likely to absorb a 
considerable portion of the money now so much needed for the 



431 

relief of trade and commerce, and the revival of business. It strikes 
me that the whole operation is likely to make money scarcer than 
it is already ; since the Treasury is coming into the market as a 
borrower, offerinff a his;ii interest. 

Again, 1 am aware that a use may be made of Treasury notes, 
which is quite opposed to the spirit of the Constitution ; that is, to 
issue them without interest, or with a mere nominal interest, and to 
attempt to force them into circulation as money. Any such attempt 
ought to be strenuously resisted ; being neither more nor less than 
an attempt to establish a system of Government paper money. 

But Congress has sanctioned long ago, and under better auspices, 
the occasional issue of Treasury notes, and I do not feel at liberty, 
therefore, to withhold my assent on the present emergency from 
that mode of raising the sums which the state of the country 
requires, as no other mode is proposed. Both the President and 
Secretary would seem excessively anxious to distinguish the issues 
of Treasury notes from the creation of a debt ; but I think this 
distinction is without a difference. A note issued, bearing interest, 
and payable hereafter, has created a debt as much as any form of 
stock could create it. A national debt was actually commenced at 
the very first session of Congress under the present Administration, 
and it never has been paid, except as one obligation has been dis- 
charged by borrowino; monev on another. I^ike other debtors, we 
have renewed our notes, and renewed them often, sometmies pay- 
ing high interest ; but we have never extinguished the debt. The 
first Treasury notes were issued in the autumn of 1837. The 
amount outstanding January, 1833, was, I think, four or five mil- 
lions ; in January, 1839, it was also large ; and in January, 1840. 
as I have already said, the Secretary states it at two millions and 
three quarters. 

One object of the present bill is to enable the Treasury to pay 
off the unpaid part of these two miUions and three quarters by bor- 
rowing again. So that it is true that, from the first session of Con- 
gress under this Administration, to the present day, the Govern- 
ment has been in debt for borrowed money, and has been every 
hour paying interest for such borrowed money. This is a public 
debt. What this debt may amount to by March, 1841, I cannot 
say. It depends on measures to be adopted by Congress, and on 
those changes and fluctuations in trade which cannot be foreseen. 
But if no new means of revenue are supplied, and Congress should 
make such appropriations as it usually has done, and no great 
improvement in the state of affairs should take place, I cannot see 
how it is likely to fall short of eight or ten millions. But this is 
mere estimate. Whatever the amount may be, however, in March, 
1841, it will be a debt created by the present Administration. I 



432 

do not say unnecessarily created. I am not now speaking to that 
point. But I say it will be a debt — a public debt — a national 
debt— begun under this Administration — a debt existinij in the 
least economical and the most inconvenient form — a debt bearing 
an interest — and a debt which, if cast on the Administration of 
1841, whoever may be at the head of that Administration, must be 
provided for. I say this, Sir, merely to preclude, ab ante, the idea 
that, if a national debt shall be found existing after March, 1841, 
it will be the debt of the Administration of that time, and not of 
the present. 

My real ground of complaint against the present Administration — 
and I think it a very just ground — is, that it has not come out in a 
manly manner, long ago, and told Congress that there was a neces- 
sity to make further provision for revenue. 

The President, in his Message of the 2d December, observed that 
all the Treasury notes then outstanding would have been redeemed 
before that time, " if the Treasury could have realized payments 
due to it from the banks." What banks? The outstanding 
Treasury notes amounted, at that time, to two millions and three 
quarters. The deposit banks owed the Government only a 
million, or a million one hundred thousand dollars. The President 
must have included the bond of two millions and a half of the 
Bank of the United States. But that bond is not, by the terms of 
it, due till September next. There could have been no disappoint- 
ment, therefore, in not realizing the payment of that before the date 
of the Message. The President makes very just observations upon 
the impolicy and danger of commencing a public debt in a time of 
peace; of the fearful rapidity with which such debts are apt to be 
increased ; and upon our duty to struggle against such debts at the 
threshold. But all this does not prove that money borrowed and 
still owed on Treasury notes is not a national debt. All this does 
not prove that we have not been borrowing money on the strength 
of the public credit, paying high interest for it, and having an 
immediate prospect of being obliged very considerably to increase 
its amount. I know no way of keeping out of debt, but by bring- 
ing the revenue up to the expenditure, or bringing the expenditure 
down to the revenue. If we owe for borrowed money, it is puerile 
to talk about the form of our obligation, as if one form was less a 
debt than another. It would be much more wise to set ourselves 
at onc^ about getting the means of payment. Good aphorisms, 
upon the subject of a national debt, should be followed, I think, by 
direct and responsible recommendations to Congress of such meas- 
ures as are necessary to prevent the evil. 

Let us, now, Mr. President, look to the Secretary's estimate of 
means and of expenditures for the present. 



433 

And, first, of the means. He thinks the receipts into the Treas- 
uiy from customs, lands, and miscellaneous sources, will not exceed 
eighteen millions six hundred thousand dollars, 

#18,600,000 00 
Amount in the Treasury, January 1, 1840, . . 1,556,385 00 

20,156,385 00 



Expected to be paid on United States Bank bond, 2,526,576 00 
Due from deposit banks, 1,149,904 00 

#23,832,865 00 

But the Secretary does not deem it prudent to rely on the col- 
lection of these debts ; and as to the receipts from the custom- 
house, the great source of expected income, I presume his hopes 
are not stronger now than they were at the commencement of 
the year. 

Let us now turn to the other side of the account, and see the 
estimate of expenditures. 

Now, on this head, he says that if Congress should make appropri- 
ations to the extent desired by the different depart- 
ments, the expenditures of the year will amount to #20,000,000 00 
Besides the payment of outstanding Treasury 

notes, amounting to 2,750,000 00 

22,750,000 00 

This would leave an apparent balance in the 

Treasury, at the beginning of next year, of. . 1,082,865 00 

But this sum is less than the amount due from the deposit 
banks, the payment of which, he says, ought not to be relied on. 
If no part of that should be paid, the Treasury, according to this 
statement, will be minus at the close of this year. Probably some 
part of it will be paid ; but at best, and if the Secretary's hopes 
should all be fulfilled, it will be, upon his showing, a touch-and-go 
aftair. 

But, as he does not rely on receiving these debts from the banks, 
what does he propose ? He speaks always of Treasury notes as 
being of a temporary expedient only, and that they are to be 
redeemed within the year. I do not think this, at ail ; but that is 
his ground. How, then, does he propose to provide for the defi- 
ciency, in case these bank debts shall not be collected ? 

Why, Sir, he says, very gravely, that one mode of avoiding dif- 
ficulty will be to reduce the appropriations by postponing some 
and lessening others. We need no ghost to tell us that. But 
what appropriations will he reduce ? Where shall the lessening 
take place? or where shall the postponement take place? On 

VOL. III. 55 KK 



434 

what head shall the blow fall ? Shall it be in the civil list, or the 
army, or the navy ? He says, in the early part of his Message, 
that he thinks a reduction can be made, without essential injury to 
any useful objects, " for reasons which will be hereafter enumer- 
ated." I have looked through the whole paper carefully, and can- 
not say that I have met with that enumeration of reasons. Per- 
haps the chairman of the committee, if he were here, could tell us 
where those reasons are to be found. He does say, indeed, in a 
subsequent part of his communication, that it may become neces- 
sary to diminish the compensation of all officers, civil, military, 
executive, judicial, and legislative. But he states no proposed rate 
of reduction ; and, indeed, he does not recommend reduction at all. 
He says it may become necessary. Does he think it has become, 
and is now, necessary ? Does he recommend it ? Is that his 
reliance to eke out his ways and means? And what amount of 
reduction does he suppose such a process would accomplish ? It 
is better to do this, he says, than to expose the Treasury to bank- 
ruptcy. Does he mean that the Treasury will be exposed to bank- 
ruptcy, if this be not done ? Does he mean to say tliat the Treas- 
ury will be forthwith bankrupt, unless the pay of the President, 
heads of departments, judges, members of Congress, and military 
and civil officers, be immediately reduced? Is it acknowledged 
that our finances are in this condition ? If so, why not recommend 
the measure at once ? Why not tell us, distinctly, what is neces- 
sary ? Why leave Congress to grope in the dark, amidst many 
various, and sometimes inconsistent, propositions and suggestions? 
When the report begins with such a flourishing paragraph about 
the great prosperity of the Treasury, one is not prepared to see the 
Secretary come to this complexion of bankruptcy quite so soon. 

But, Mr. President, there is at least an apparent inconsistency 
between the President and the Secretary. The Secretary says the 
appropriations may be reduced below the estimates, so as to leave 
two millions in the Treasury at the beginning of next year. This 
will require a reduction of one million, if he reckon on collecting 
all the balances due from the deposit banks ; or, if not, then a 
reduction of a million, and as much more as shall equal what may 
remain unpaid of these balances. He supposes, then, that these 
estimates of appropriations may be safely cut down at least one or 
two millions. This would be a very important saving. 

But what says the President ? The President says that he 
" has directed the estimates for 1840 to be subjected to the 
severest scrutiny, and to be limited to the absolute requirements 
of the public services." 

Now, Sir, if his directions had been followed, — if these estimates 
had been subjected to the severest scrutiny, and are limited to the 
absolute requirements of the public service, — where is the reduction 



435 

to be made ? The Secretary, as T have said, specifies nothing, and 
recommends nothing directly. Where would he have us lop off? 
Will he spare us one or two millions from his own department ? 
Will the Secretary at War spare a million from his ? Or the 
Secretary of the Navy from his ? Why, I ask, should Congress, 
when called on to appropriate the public moneys, be left in such 
clouds, and such darkness ? 

Sir, one word as to the manner of making estimates of expen- 
diture for the consideration of Congress. It is a plain and simple 
business, though, from its nature, it cannot be very precise, and I 
cannot see any necessity for enveloping it in so much obscurity and 
uncertainty. 

Appropriations are of three classes. 

In the first place, there are certain existing or standing appropri- 
ations, which need not be renewed annually. Such is the sum of 
^'•200,000 expended every year for arming the militia ; and such 
are some of the classes of pensions, and a few other small charges. 

In the second place, there are the large class, in which the charge 
is created by law, but annual appropriations are required to enable 
the Treasury to disburse the sums necessary for its payment. This 
includes the army and navy, the civil list, and a list of miscel- 
laneous objects. 

In the tiiird place, there are, as we all know, many appropria- 
tions made by Congress for special objects, public or private, and 
those often amount to considerable sums — private claims, roads 
and canals, building of lighthouses, Indian treaties, many objects 
recommended by the Executive itself; and these require, every 
year, a greater or less amount of money from the Treasury. The 
Secretary says that the expenditures of this description, which may 
be sanctioned by Congress annually, are very uncertain in their 
amount. This is true ; but then, as these expenditures, in every 
year, amount to a considerable sum, and have done so from the 
very beginning of the Government, can any just or comprehensive 
view of the probable necessities of the Treasury be presented which 
shall leave all such out ? It is quite impossible that some such 
expenditures should not be made. Now, in these estimates and 
recommendations, I find no provision whatever for any objects of 
this kind. The estimates are strictly confined to the army, the 
navy, and the civil list. I find no allowance for a single dollar 
which we might vote away here upon a private claim. Yet the 
Secretary tells us that, if we will keep within the estimates, the 
means will hold out. But he must know, I should have thought, 
that we cannot keep within the estimates. It is more than probable, 
judging from the past, that he himself, before the session is out, 
will call for appropriations not within the estimates. And does he 
mean, in that case, to throw the blame of any deficiency which 



436 

may arise on Congress, by saying that Congress did not keep within 
the estiina'tes ? 

If we may beheve the President, and if the Secretaries have 
fulfilled his directions, there is nothing in any of these estimates 
which is not required by the absolute wants of the Government. 
But we know, Sir, that there are things not in the estimates, in 
regard to which the wants will be absolute; for instance, the private 
claims, upon which we are passing here every day, and for many 
of which we niust provide, if we mean to do justice. Besides, do 
we not see, and know, that, in all human probability, various other 
occasions of appropriation will arise ? Will there be no contin- 
gencies for the war in Florida ? no expense for Indian treaties ? 
Is it not possible that events may arise on the north-eastern frontier, 
involving heavy charges ? 

And again, Sir ; does the Administration abandon the Cumberland 
road ? Here is no estimate for a dollar on that head of expenditure. 
Yet I trust an appropriation for that object will be made. 1 shall 
certainly vote for it myself. And harbors on the lakes — are pro- 
visions for those places of refuge and safety to lake mariners to be 
again postponed ? They are not in the estimates. Is no improve- 
ment of any other harbor, no new lighthouse, and nothing else, 
which the protection of Atlantic or inland commerce may require, 
to be undertaken or provided for ? Or, since these things are not 
within the estimates, if Congress should provide for them, is Con- 
gress to be reproached for its conduct, and made answerable for 
deficiencies ? 

I repeat, Sir, that the Executive departments must well know 
that, for some of these objects, appropriations will of necessity be 
made ; and I repeat, therefore, that it seems to me to have been 
their duty to have presented such a plan, for receipt and expen- 
diture, as should have embraced them, and provided for them. The 
amount, I agree, could not be well foreseen. But it must have 
been foreseen — it could not but have been foreseen — that some- 
thing would be necessary ; and yet the estimates make allowance 
for nothing. 

There is. Sir, in all these Executive communications, a constant 
repetition of sound general maxims about the importance of econ- 
omy. I hope the virtue will be practised, as well as preached. 
But in my opinion there is no just economy in refusing appropria- 
tions to important, necessary, and useful public objects. Let econ- 
omy begin by cutting off useless objects, and diminishing the ex- 
pense of accomplishing such as are useful. Let it push its 
reform to the reduction of the cost of collecting the revenue. Let 
it take care of expenditures, by trusting the public moneys to honest 
hands. Let it reduce offices, wherever they can be reduced. In 
all these, and other like things, let it exert its salutary influence. 



437 

But Is the Cumberland road to stop/ from an impulse of economy ? 
Are the lakes to be witliout harboi-s, from considerations of econ- 
omy ? Are important contingencies in public affairs not to be 
reasonably provided for, from reasons of economy ? What sort of 
economy would that be ? 

Sir, I take that great public virtue, true economy, to consist, not 
in an undistinguishing neglect or refusal to appropriate money, but 
in a careful selection of important and necessary objects of expen- 
diture, in the frugal application of means to accomplish these 
objects, and in enforcing an exact and punctual discharge of duty 
by every officer charged either with the collection of money, or 
with any expenditure, great or small. ^ This is my idea of wise and 
practical economy, such as it becomes i5s to exercise, and such as the 
country will approve. But it is of little value, or no value at all, 
that Executive communications should rehearse to us general 
economical maxims, unless they show us what objects of expen- 
diture may be disregarded, or in what other way savings may be 
made. And it would be especially edifying if these general admo- 
nidous should be accompanied and enforced by some striking and 
brilliant examples set by the beads of departments themselves. I 
presume tbat no injustice towards Congress is intended, but I must 
say that in many of these communications, there are things which 
seem calculated to assert great merit for economy in the Executive 
departments, and which are but too well calculated to throw upon 
us an apparent want of that virtue. If it be required of Congress 
to keep its appropriations within the estimates of the departments, 
these departments ought, in their estimates, to comprehend all 
objects which they loiow, or have reason to believe. Congress must 
provide for. 

Mr. President, I do not know the opinions of other gentlemen, 
and speak only for myself; but my opinion is, that our existing pro- 
visions for revenue are not adequate. I am aware that one branch 
of expenditure — that of pensions — is rapidly decreasing ; but others 
are quite likely to increase, and we all know what a fall in duties is 
to take place in no gi-eat length of tune. Looking to the many 
useful and important objects, which, I think, ought to engage die 
attention of Congress, it seems to me to be time that further pro- 
visions for income should be made. And we have the means at 
hand. There are articles of import on which we might, imme- 
diately, in my opinion, lay a considerable duty. The first of these 
is silks. The importation of this article is enormous. In 1839, it 
exceeded twenty-one millions of dollars. Think of that. An annual 
consumption of an untaxed imported article, of mere luxury, of 
twenty-one millions of dollars ! Those silks clothe no poor man, 
nor his wife, nor children. The whole use and consumption is by 
the affluent. Is there a fairer subject of import duty in the world ? 



438 



Our table is loaded with petitions on this subject, by those who are 
attempting the making of silk among ourselves. This, itself, is a 
good reason for taxing the imported article. But, as a subject of 
revenue, nothing can be fairer or more proper. Good would come 
every way from a duly on silk. Suppose the importation should 
be a little lessened by it ; that would favor the efforts of our people, 
and obtain revenue also. Suppose the importation should hardly 
be diminished at all, as perhaps it might not be ; then we should 
receive the more revenue, and should collect it on an article of the 
merest luxury. Sir, if such a measure could originate in this House, 
I would move, this hour, to bring in a bill laying a duty on im- 
ported silks. 

The next article is wine. Wines were imported last year to an 
amount exceeding three millions of dollars. Why should not wines 
pay a duty ? I know that, in regard to French wines, we are 
limited, by the treaty with France, until 1842. But still, within 
those limits, we might lay a considerable duty on the wines of 
France. But I should have no desire to lay duties on the red 
wines, or the cheaper wines of France. Such wines are con- 
sumed, extensively, in the South and West, are suited to the habits 
of the people, and supposed to be suited also to the climate. Until 
more necessary than at present to tax them, they might be received 
untaxed. But other and costly wines, such as are regarded as 
luxuries only, might well be subjected to a reasonable duty. 

I would lay no duty on tea or coffee, because they are very gen- 
erally used, have become, in some degree, necessaries of life, and 
contribute largely to promote comfort, temperance, and happiness 
among all classes. I may add that the general use of these articles 
is one of the most striking things which distinguish the laboring 
classes of this country from the same classes in other countries. 

Such, Sir, would be my resort, if I could have my own way, for 
revenues, such as are necessary for the support of Government. 

As to the public lands, I have been, and still am, in favor of 
dividing their proceeds among the States upon fair and equitable 
principles. Perhaps this should not be done till the census, 
which is to be taken this year, be finished ; as that will be the 
surest means of making a just and proper division ; but, at a proper 
time, 1 am for the measure. In addition to other reasons which 
have been so often urged, it may be said, with force, that the income 
fjrom this source is too unsteady and fluctuating to be relied on as an 
essential branch of public revenue. But a few years ago, it amount- 
ed to twenty-four millions. For this year, it is estimated but at 
three and a half. I should, therefore, assign this income to the 
States, whatever it might be, and rely for our revenue on those 
other sources which I have mentioned. In addition to silks and 
wines, there are some articles, called die protected articles, such as 



439 

woollen fabrics, on which, in my opinion, the duties ought to be 
raised. 1 would not hasten, indeed, the discussion of the general 
taritr question ; but that question is now before us, not far off, and 
must soon be upon us. 

Mr. President, our imports, the last year, reached the unprece- 
dented amount of one hundred and fifty-seven millions of dollars, 
exceeding by nearly fifty millions the import of the year before. 
Yet even this, seems not to satisfy us all. Public men appear to 
have ruling passions or strong tendencies of preference toward par- 
ticular objects. It seems to me that our Government, and many 
of our people, have imbibed an extravagant and morbid love of 
importation. They seem to judge of the prosperity of the country, 
and the happiness of its people, exclusively by die quantities of 
foreign merchandise which they annually consume. With all 
respect, the President himself, I think, has feelings with this ten- 
dency. 1 find this paragraph in his last annual Message : — 

" Our people will not long be insensible to the extent of the 
burdens entailed upon them by the false system that has been 
operating on tlieir sanguine, energetic, and industrious character, 
nor to the means necessary to extricate themselves from these em- 
barrassments. The weight which presses upon a large portion of 
the People and the States, is an enormous debt, foreign and domes- 
tic. The foreign debt of our States, corporations, and men of 
business, can scarcely be less than two hundred millions of dollars, 
requiring more than ten millions of dollars a year to pay the interest. 
This sum has to be paid out of the exports of the country, and must, 
of necessity, cut off imports to that extent, or plunge the country 
more deeply in debt from year to year. It is easy to see that the 
increase of this foreign debt must augment the annual demand on 
the exports to pay the interest, and to the same extent diminish the 
imports ; and in proportion to the enlargement of the foreign debt, 
and the consequent increase of interest, must be the decrease of the 
import trade. In lieu of the comforts which it now brings us, we 
might have our gigantic banking institutions, and splendid, but in 
many instances profitless, railroads and canals, absorbing, to a great 
extent, in interest upon the capital borrowed to construct them, the 
surplus fruits of national industry for years to come, and securing to 
posterity no adequate return for the comforts which the labors of 
their hands might otherwise have secured." 

IN'ow, Sir, I would ask, most respectfully, whether any one can 
mention any railroad or canal more profitless to the country than 
this enormous importation of foreign luxuries. Or, I would ask, 
what those imported comforts are, of which we get so much less 
than we ought to desire. Docs our comfort require a greater im- 
portation of silks or wines ? Or should we be better off by adding 
to the six or eight millions of imported woollen fabrics, further to 



440 

depress and distress our own manufactures ? Or is the aggregate of 
one hundred and fifty-seven milHons of dollars, of imported mer- 
chandise, not enough, on the whole, to satisfy our eager appetite for 
foreign productions ? Inasmuch as we lay and collect no duties on 
silks and wines, we are likely to fall short of sufficient revenue ; 
inasmuch as we are likely to fall short of revenue, we refuse all 
appropriations to the Cumberland road, and to harbors on the lakes. 
It would seem to follow, from this, that we deem silks and wines 
more a necessity of life than a good road through a new country, or 
ports and havens, in which ships, employed in useful commerce, 
can take shelter for the preservation of lives and property. 

Mr. President, it is remarkable that this spirit for importation 
should become so strong, just when our own occupations and em- 
ployments are most depressed. The cotton manufactures, prac- 
tically, are in a worse state than they have been for twenty years. 
It is supposed that at least one half the woollen machinery in the 
United States has ceased to work, and many of the establishments 
might be purchased at one third their cost. The iron trade and the 
coal trade sutler with the rest. If the condition of Eastern and 
Northern manufactures be as I have stated, I doubt whether one 
would receive much more favorable accounts, if he were to inquire 
into the condition of trade and business at Pittsburg, at Wheeling, 
or at Cincinnati. 

Under the circumstances of the country. Sir, I confess I do not 
comprehend how any man should desire to see a greater importation 
of foreign commodities. 

The Secretary of the Treasury expresses sentiments, if not 
entirely like those which I have been considering, yet such as seem 
to belong to the same general system of policy. He says in his 
annual report, — - 

" Should the States not speedily suspend more of their under- 
takings, which are unproductive, but, by new loans or otherwise, 
find means to employ armies of laborers in consuming rather than 
raising crops, and should prices thus continue, in many cases, to be 
unnaturally inflated, as they have been of late years, in the face of 
a contracting currency, the effect of it on our finances will be still 
more to lessen exports, and, consequently, the prosperity and rev- 
enue of our foreign trade." 

Foreign trade is here presented as the prominent object of national 
pursuit, and a reduction of prices at home clearly intimated as a 
measure of reform. Those armies of laborers now employed on 
public works, it is here distincdy recommended, instead of thus 
consuming crops, should go to raising them. This, 1 think, is 
rather cold comfort, at the present prices of agricultural products. 

Gentlemen around me know the prices at which wheat and flour 
are selling in the North-Western States, and in Pennsylvania and 



441 

New York. Carolina corn, I notice, is selling in Boston for fifty 
cents a bushel. I doubt whether any of the producers think these 
prices unnaturally inflated, or whether they will warmly sympathize 
with the Secretary in the opinion that there ought to be further 
reduction. 

Mr. President, my own opinion of our condition, and of our true 
policy, is quite different from all this. I hope the States will be 
able to go on, and that I hey will go on, with their public works, 
unless in cases where the objects are plainly beyond the ability of 
the State. I hope they will keep good heart, use the strictest 
economy, persevere, and not lose the benefit of all they have done 
already. 

I am for bringing about no reduction in the price of labor. On 
the ether hand, I regard high rates of labor as the surest proofs of 
general prosperity. 

I have no desire to see a greater or more unrestrained importation 
of foreiirn o;oods. 

On the contrary, I am for laying a tax on imported luxuries, thus 
securing an adequate revenue to Government. 

And with this revenue I am for defraying the ordinary expenses 
of Government, making reasonable provisions for unexpected con- 
tingencies, and for accomplishing important and useful works, for 
which we have been so much solicited, and which, in my opinion, 
the several parts of the country have a right to call on us not longer 
to neglect. 



VOL. ui. 56 



SPEECH 



IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, MAY 18, 18 W, ON THE 
PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO THE BANKRUPT BILL. 



I FEEL a deep and anxious concern for the success of this bill, and,( 
in rising to address the Senate, my only motive is a sincere desire to 
answer objections which have been made to it, so far as 1 may be 
able, and to urge the necessity and importance of its passage. For- 
tunately, it is a subject which does not connect itself with any of the 
party contests of the day ; and although it would not become me to 
admonish others, yet 1 have prescribed it as a rule to myself, that, 
in attempting to forward the measure, and to bring it to a successful 
termination, I shall seek no party ends, no party influence, no party 
advancement. The subject, so far as I am concerned, shall be sacred 
from the intrusion of all such objects and purposes. I wish to treat 
tliis occasion, and this highly-important question, as a green spot, iu 
the midst of the fiery deserts of party strife, on which all may meet 
harmoniously and amicably, and hold common counsel for the com- 
mon good. 

The power of Congress over the subject of bankruptcies — the 
most useful mode of exercising the power under the present circum- 
stances of the country — and the duty of exercising it — are the 
points to which attention is naturally called by every one who ad- 
dresses the Senate. 

In the first place, as to the power. It is fortunately not an in- 
ferred or constructive power, but one of the express grants of the 
Constitution. " Congress shall have power to establish uniform 
laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States." 
These are the words of the grant ; there may be questions about the 
extent of the power, but there can be none of its existence. 

The bill which has been reported by the committee provides for 
voluntary bankruptcies only. It contains no provisions by which 
creditors, on an alleged act of bankruptcy, may proceed against 
their debtors, with a view to subject them and their property to the 
operation of the law. It looks to no coercion by a creditor to make 
his debtor a subject of the law against his will. This is the first 
characteristic of the bill, and in this respect it certainly differs from 

442 



443 

the former bankrupt laws of the United States, and from the English 
bankrupt laws. 

The bill, too, extends its provisions not only to those who, eitlier 
in fact or in contem])lation of law, are traders, but to all persons who 
declare themselves insolvent, or unable to pay their debts and meet 
their engagements, and who desire to assign their property for the 
benefit of their creditors. In this respect, also, it differs from the 
former law, and from the law of England. 

The questions, then, are two : 1st. Can Congress constitutionally 
pass a bankrupt law which shall include other persons besides tra- 
ders ? 2d. Can it pass a law providing for voluntary cases only ; 
that is, cases in which the proceedings originate only with the 
debtor himself? 

The consideration of both these questions is necessarily involved 
in the discussion of the present bill, inasmuch as it has been denied 
that Congress has power to extend bankrupt laws farther than to 
merchants and traders, or to make them for voluntary cases only. 
This limitation in the power of Congress is asserted on the idea 
that the framers of the Constitution, in conferring the power of 
establishing bankrupt laws, must be presumed to have had reference 
to the bankrupt laws of England, as then existing ; and that the 
laws of England, then existing, embraced none but merchants and 
traders, and provided only for involuntary or coercive bankruptcies. 

JNow, Sir, in the first place, allow me to remark, that the power is 
granted to Congress in the most general and comprehensive terms. 
It has one limitation only, which is, that laws on the subject of 
bankruptcies shall be uniform throughout the United States. With 
tliis qualification, the whole subject is placed in the discretion and 
under the legislation of Congress. The Constitution does not say 
that Congress shall have power to pass a bankrupt law, nor to intro- 
duce the system of bankruptcies. It declares that Congress shall 
have power to " establish uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies 
throughout the United States.'' This is the whole clause ; nor is 
there any limitation or restriction imposed by any other clause. 

What, then, is " the subject of bankruptcies " ? or, in other words, 
what are " bankruptcies " *? It is to be remembered that the Con- 
stitution grants the powers to Congress by particular or specific 
enumeration ; and, in making this enumeration, it mentions bank- 
ruptcies as a head of legislation, or as one of the subjects over 
which Congress is to possess authority. Bankruptcies are the sub- 
ject, and the word is most certainly to be taken in its common and 
popular sense ; in that sense in which the people may be supposed 
to have understood it, when they ratified the Constitution. This is 
the true rule of interpretation. And I may remark that it is always 
a little dangerous, in construing the Constitution, to search for the 
opinions or understanding of members of the Convention in any 



444 

other sources than the Constitution itself, because the Constitution 
owes its whole force and authority to its ratification by the people, 
and the people judged of it by the meaning most apparent on its 
face. How particular members may have understood its provisions, 
if it could be ascertained, would not be conclusive. The question 
would still be, How did the people understand it? And this can be 
decided only by giving their usual acceptation to all words not evi- 
dently used in a technical sense, and by inquiring, in any case, what 
was the interpretation or exposition presented to the people when 
the subject was under consideration. 

Bankruptcies, in the general use and acceptation of the term, 
mean no more than failures. A bankiTiptcy is a fact. It is an oc- 
currence in the life and fortunes of an individual. When a man 
cannot pay his debts, we say he has become a bankrupt, or has 
failed. Bankruptcy is not merely the condition of a man who is 
insolvent, and on whom a bankrupt law is already acting. This 
would be quite too technical an interpretation. According to this, 
there never could be bankrupt laws, because every law, if this were 
the meaning, would suppose the existence of a previous law. When- 
ever a man's means are insufficient to meet his engagements and pay 
his debts, the fact of bankruptcy has taken place ; a case of bank- 
ruptcy has arisen, whether there be a law providing for it or not. 

There may be bankruptcies, or cases of bankruptcy, where there 
are no bankrupt laws existing. Or bankrupt laws may exist, which 
shall extend to some bankruptcies, or some cases of bankruptcy, 
and not to others. We constantly speak of bankruptcies happen- 
ing among individuals, without reference to existing laws. Bank- 
ruptcies, as facts, or occurrences, or cases, for which Congress is 
authorized to make provision, are failures. A learned judge has 
said that a law on the subject of bankruptcies, in the sense of the 
Constitution, is a law making provision for persons failing to pay 
their debts. Over the whole subject of these bankruptcies, or these 
failures, the power of Congress, as it stands on the face of the Con- 
stitution, is full and complete. 

And now, let us see how it is that this broad and general power 
is, or can be, limited by a supposed reference to the English system. 
The argument is this : The members of the Convention, in confer- 
ring this power on Congress, must be supposed to have had reference 
to the bankrupt laws of England ; and the bankrupt laws of England, 
as- then existing, embraced only merchants and traders, and were 
only applied to debtors at the instance of their creditors ; therefore 
the inference is said to be, that traders only should be regarded as 
subjects of any bankrupt lav/ to be passed by Congress, and that no 
such law should give the debtor himself a right to become bankrupt, 
at his own request ; or, at least, that every such law should give a 
right to the creditor to proceed against his debtor. But is this the 



445 

just analogy ? Is this the point of view in which a general resem- 
blance of our system and the English system may be supposed to 
have been contemplated ? Clearly not, in my opinion. Let it be 
admitted that the framers of the Constitution looked to England for 
a general example; they must be supposed, nevertheless, to have 
looked to the power of Parliament, and not the particular mode in 
which that power had been exercised, or the particular law then 
actually existing. The true analogy is, as it seems to me, between 
power and power — the power of Parliament and the power of 
Congress ; and not between the power of Congress and any actually 
existing British statute, which might be, perhaps, in many respects, 
quite unsuitable to our condition. 

The members of the Convention did not study the British stat- 
utes, nor examine judicial decisions, to ascertain the precise nature 
of the actually existing system of bankruptcy in England. Still 
less did the people of the United States trouble themselves with 
such inquiries. All saw that Parliament possessed and exercised a 
power of passing bankiupt laws, and of altering and amending them, 
from time to time, according to its own discretion, and the neces- 
sities of the case. This power they intended lo confer on Con- 
gress, as largely, for aught that appears, as they saw it held by Par- 
liament. The early British statutes were not confined to traders ; 
later statutes were so confined ; and, more recendy, again, changes 
have been made, which bring in very numerous classes of persons 
who were not esteemed traders, in England, at the time of the 
adoi)tion of the Constitution of the United States. I may add that 
bankrupt laws, properly so called, or laws providing for the cessio 
bonorum, on the continent of Europe, and in Scotland, were never 
confined to traders ; and while the members of the Convention may 
be supposed to have looked to the example of England, it is by no 
ineans improbable that they contemplated also the examples and 
institutions of other countries. There is no reason to suppose that 
it was intended to tie up the hands of Congress to the establishment 
of that particular bankrupt system which existed in England in 
1789, and to deny to it all power of future modification and amend- 
ment : it would be just as reasonable to say that the United States 
laws of copyright, of patents for inventions, and many others, could 
only be mere transcripts of British statutes on the same subjects, as 
existed in 1789. 

The great object was to authorize Congress to establish a uniform 
system throughout all the States. No State could of itself establish 
such a system ; it could only establish a system for itself; and the 
diversities, inconsistencies, and interferences of the several State sys- 
tems had been subjects of much well-grounded complaint. It was 
intended to give Congress the power to establish uniformity in this 
respect ; and if the English example was regarded, it was regarded 

LL 



446 

in its general character, of a power in Parliament to pass laws on 
the subject, to repeal them, and pass others, in its discretion, and 
to deal with the whole subject, from time to time, as experience 
of the exigencies of the public should suggest or require. The 
bankrupt system of England, as it existed in 1789, was not the 
same which had previously existed, nor the same which afterwards 
existed, or that which now exists. At first, the system was coercive, 
and the law a sort of criminal law, extending to all persons, as well 
as traders. But changes had taken place before 1789, and other 
changes, and very important changes, have taken place since. The 
system is now greatly simplified and improved, and it is also made 
much more extensive, as to those whom it embraces. It is hardly 
too much to say that it is preposterous to contend that we are to 
refuse to ourselves not only the light of our own experience, and all 
regard to our own peculiar situation, but that we are also to exclude 
from our regard and notice all modern English improvements, and 
confine ourselves to the English bankrupt laws as they existed in 
1789. The power of Congress is given in the fullest manner, and 
by the largest and most comprehensive terms and forms of expres- 
sion ; and it cannot be limited by vague presumptions of a reference 
to other existing codes, or loose conjectures about the intents of its 
framers, nowhere expressed or intimated in the instrument itself, or 
any contemporaneous exposition. 

I think, then, that Congress may pass a law which shall include 
persons not traders, and which shall include voluntary cases only. 
And I think, further, that the amendment proposed by the honorable 
member from New Jersey is, in effect, exactly against his own argu- 
ment. I think it admits all that he contends against. In the first 
place, he admits voluntary bankruptcies, and there were none such 
in England in 1789. This is clear. And in the next place, he 
admits any one who will say that he has been concerned in trade ; 
and he maintains, and has asserted, that in this country any body 
may say that. Any body, then, may come in under the bill. The 
only difference is, he must come in under a disguise, or in an assumed 
character. Whatever be his employment, occupation, or pursuits, he 
must come in as a trader, or as one who has been concerned or 
engaged in trade. The honorable member attempts a distinction 
between the traders and those who can say that they have been 
enpfasied in trade. I cannot see the difference. It is too fine for me, 
A trader is one concerned in trade, and to be concerned in trade is 
to be a trader. What is the difference ? But if persons may be 
concerned in trade, and yet not be traders, still such persons were 
not embraced in the English statutes, which apply to traders by 
name ; and, therefore, the gentleman's bill would embrace persons 
not within those statutes as they stood in 1789. 

The gentleman's real object is, not to confine the bill to traders. 



447 

but to embrace every body ; and yet he deems it necessary for 
every person applying to state, and to swear, that he has been 
engaged in trade. This seems to me to be both superfluous and 
objectionable ; superfluous, because, if we have a right to bring in 
persons under one name, we may bring in the same persons under 
another name, or by a general description ; objectionable, because 
it requires men to state what may very much resemble a falsehood, 
and to make oath to it. Suppose a farmer or mechanic to fail ; can 
he take an oath that he has been engaged in trade ? If die objec- 
tion to bring in others than traders is well founded in the Constitu- 
tion, surely mere form cannot remove it. Words cannot alter things. 
The Constitution says nothing about traders. Yet the honorable 
gentleman's amendment requires all applicants to declare themselves 
ti'aders ; and if they will but say so, and swear so, it shall be so 
received, and nobody shall contradict it. In other words, a fiction, 
not very innocent, shall be allowed to overcome an unconstitutional 
objection. The gentleman has been misled by a false analogy. He 
has adopted an example which does not apply to the case, and 
which he yet does not follow out. The British statutes are confined 
to traders. But, then, they contain a long list of persons, who, it is 
declared, shall be deemed and taken to be traders within the acts. 
This list they extend, from time to time ; and whenever any one 
within it becomes a voluntary bankrupt, he avers, in substance, that 
he is a trader, within the act of Parliament. If it had been neces- 
sary, as it is not, to follow this example at all, the gendeman's bill 
should have declared all persons traders, for the purpose of this act, 
and then every body could have made the declaration without 
impropriety, as, in England, the applicant only states that which the 
law has made true. He declares himself a trader, because the law 
has already declared that he shall be considered a trader. His con- 
science, therefore, is protected. He swears only according to the 
act of Parliament, if he swear at all. But, as the provision stands 
here, it calls on every one to declare himself a trader, or that he has 
been engaged in trade, not within the particular meaning or sense 
of any act of Congress, but in the usual and popular acceptation of 
the word. 

Suppose, Sir, a cotton-planter, by inevitable misfortune, by fire or 
flood, or by mortal epidemics among his hands, is ruined in his 
aflliirs. Suppose he desires to make a surrender of his property, 
and be discharged from his debts. He will be told. You cannot have 
the benefit of the law as a cotton-planter ; it is made only for tra- 
ders, or persons engaged in trade. Are you not a trader ? No. I 
am no trader, and was never engaged in trade. 1 bought my land 
here, bought my hands from Carolina, have bought my stock from 
Kentucky, and raised cotton and sold it. But I never bought an 
article to sell again. I am no trader. But you must swear that 



448 

you have been engaged in trade ; you must apply, not as John 
Jones, Esquire, cotton-planter, on the Red River, but as Mr. John 
Jones, trader, at his storehouse, at or near the plantation of John 
Jones, Esquire. And so. Sir, John Jones, the cotton-planter, must 
either remain as he is, excluded from the provisions of the law 
altogether, or sneak into them under a disingenuous disguise, if it be 
not something worse. 

This attempt, therefore. Sir, to avoid a supposed difficulty, en- 
counters two decisive objections. In the first place, there is no 
difficulty to be avoided ; in the second place, if there was, this 
manner of avoiding it would be mere evasion. 

But now. Sir, I come to a very important inquiry. The Consti- 
tution requires us to establish uniform laws on the subject of bank- 
ruptcy, if we establish any. Now, what is this uniformity, or in 
what is it to consist ? The honorable gentleman says that the 
meaning is, that the law must give a coercive power to creditors, as 
well as a voluntary power to debtors ; that this is the constitutional 
uniformity. 1 deny this altogether. No idea of uniformity arises 
from any such consideration. The uniformity which the Constitu- 
tion requires is merely a uniformity throughout all the States. It is 
a local uniformity, and nothing more. The words are perfectly 
plain, and the sense cannot be doubted. The authority is, to es- 
tablish uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout tlie 
United States. Can any thing be clearer ? To be uniform is to 
have one shape, one fashion, one form ; and our bankrupt laws, if we 
pass them, are to have one shape, one fashion, and one form, in 
every State. If this be not so, what is the sense of the concluding 
words of the clause, " throughout the United States " ? My honor- 
able friend from Kentucky (Mr. Crittenden) has disposed of this 
whole question, if there ever could be a question abor.t it, by asking 
the honorable gentleman from New Jersey what uniform means, in 
the very same clause of the Constitution, where the word is applied 
to rules of naturalization ; and what it means in a previous clause, 
where it declares that all duties of impost shall be uniform through- 
out the United States. 

It can hardly be necessary to discuss this point further. If it 
were, the whole history of the Constitution would show the object 
of the provision. Bankrupt laws were supposed to be closely con- 
nected with commercial regulations. They were considered to be 
laws nearly affecting the intercourse, trade, and dealing, between 
citizens of different States ; and for this reason it was thought wise 
to enable Congress to make them uniform. The Constitution pro- 
vided that there should be but one coinage, and but one power to fix 
the value of foreign coins. The legal medium of payment, there- 
fore, in fulfilment of contracts, was to be ascertained and fixed, for 
all the States, by Congress, and by Congress alone ; and Congress, 



449 

and Congress alone, was to have the power of providing a uniform 
mode in which contracts might be discharged without payment. 
Look to the discussion of the times ; to the expositions of the Con- 
stitution made to the people by its friends when they urged its 
adoption ; look to all within the Constitution, and all without it ; 
look any where, or every w here, and you will see one and the same 
purpose, one and the same meaning ; and that meaning cannot be 
more clearly expressed tiian the words of the clause themselves express 
it, — that laws to be established by Congress on the subject of bank- 
ruptcies shall he uniform throughout the United States. 

Now, Sir, the gentleman's bill is not uniform. It proposes that 
there may be one law in Massachusetts, and another in New Jersey. 
The gentleman's bill includes corporations ; but then it gives each 
State a power to exempt its own corporations, or any of ihem, from 
the operation of the law, if it shall so choose. It decides what shall 
be, in the case of banks, an act of bankruptcy ; but then it provides 
that any State may say, nevertheless, that, in regard to its own banks, 
or any of them, this shall not be an act of bankruptcy. 

Here is the provision : — 

"Provided, Jwioever, That nothing herein contained shall apply to, or in 
any wise affect, any corporation or association of persons, incorporated or 
acting under a law of any State of the Union, or any Territory of the 
United States, where such corporation or association shall be authorized by 
their charter, or any express law of such State or Territory, to do or com- 
mit the act herein declared to be an act of bankruptcy, or where, by any 
such law of any such State or Territory, the said incorporation or associ- 
ation of persons shall or may be exempted from the provisions of this act." 

Pray, Sir, what sort of uniformity is this ? — a uniformity which 
consists in the authorized multiplication of varieties. Who will 
undertake to defend legislation of this kind, under our power to es- 
tablish uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the 
United States ? Not only is it in direct violation of the plain text 
of the Constitution, but it left the very evils, every one of them, 
which a provision in the Constitution intended to shut out. The 
Constitution says that Congress may establish uniform laws ; the gen- 
tleman's bill says that Congress may propose a law, at least so far as 
corporations are concerned, but that still each State may take what 
it likes, and reject the rest ; and this, he contends, is establishing a 
uniform law. 

I pray. Sir, where is this power of exemption to stop ? If we 
may authorize States to exempt their corporations, may we not, with 
equal propriety, authorize them to exempt all their citizens ? May 
we not say that each State may decide for itself whether it will have 
any thing to do with the law, when we have passed it, or what parts 
it will adopt, and what parts it will refuse to adopt ? 

But, Sir, I must wait till some attempt is made to defend this part 

VOL. III. 57 LL* 



450 

of the gentleman's bill. I must see some show of propriety, some 
plausibility, before I reason against it further. In the view I at 
present have of it, it appears to me utterly repugnant to the plain 
requirements of the Constitution, destitute not only of all argument 
for its support, but of all apology also. 1 see nothing in it but naked 
unconstitutionality. 

But, Mr. President, if these provisions were constitutional, they 
would still be in the highest degree unjust, and inexpedient, and inad- 
missible. What is the object of bringing the banks into the bill at 
all ? Certainly there can be no just object other than to insure the 
constant and punctual discharge of their duties by always paying 
their notes on presentment. Clearly there can be no object but to 
prevent their suspensions of payment. And it might be said that 
this object was kept in view, if the law were uniform, peremptory, 
inflexible, and applying to all banks. But when you give the power 
of exemption to the States, you sanction the very evil which you 
propose to remedy. You profess to prescribe a general rule, and 
yet authorize and justify its violation. Do not the States now ex- 
empt, and is not that the very evil from which we suffer ? Is not 
suspension, under the authority of State exemption, the topic, the 
discussion of which every day nearly stuns us by its reverberation 
from the walls of this chamber ? The charters of the banks are, in 
general, well enough. They require punctual specie payments, un- 
der severe penalties, and, in some cases, under the penalty of for- 
feiture. But, under the pressure of circumstances, and from a real 
or supposed necessity, the States relieve the banks from these penal- 
ties, and forbear to enforce the forfeitures. And will thev not, most 
assuredly, also reheve the banks in the same manner, and for the 
same reasons, if they have the power, from the penalties of our 
bankrupt law ? State permission. State indulgence, State exemption, 
is the very ground on which suspension now stands, and on which it 
is justified. And it is now proposed that Congress shall give its au- 
thority and sanction to all this. It is proposed that Congress shall 
solemnly recognize the principle, and approve and sanction the prac- 
tice, of State exemption, of the suspension of specie payments, by 
State authority. If the States will not enforce their own laws against 
the banks, can any one imagine that they will see the equally or still 
more severe penalties of our bankrupt law enforced, while they have 
the power to prevent it ? 

Some weeks ago, the honorable member from Pennsylvania 
moved for a committee to inquire into the propriety of amending the 
Constitution, so as to insert a provision giving Congress power to 
restrain the circulation of small bank notes. I did not concur in his 
measure, not thinking the Constitution needed amendment in that 
respect ; but his argument was quite intelligible. He said that this 
abolition of small bills could not now be accomplished, because the 



451 

States could not be brought to act in concert ; yet they might 
all be brought to consent that Congress should establish a uni- 
form rule upon the subject. That was a fair reasoning towards a 
proper object. It went for uniformity on a point of great commer- 
cial importance. But how is it here ? We do not propose uni- 
formity ; we do not require that one rule may extend over all. 
Far otherwise ; for we propose to authorize difference, dissonance, 
and confusion. Having the power to establish uniformity, we 
delegate an authority to create variety. Charged by the Constitu- 
tion to establish one rule, we ourselves, instead of performing that 
duty, call upon others to establish different and varying rules. All 
must see to what this leads, or rather what this is ; for it is a meas- 
ure which would be perfect in its beginning, it would reach its 
destiny at its commencement, its mischievous tendencies would be 
accomplished at its birth. The passage of this bill would add the 
solemn sanction of Congress to the sanction of die States to the 
suspension of specie payments by the banks. That is the prac- 
tical sum and substance, the long and the short of the whole 
matter. 

Sir, if our constitutional power enables us to embrace the banks 
in this bill, and if we see no insuperable or greatly formidable prac- 
tical objections, then, I think, we ought to include them all, without 
any power of escape. 

Suppose the bill should be made uniform, then, and to include all 
banks ; have we the power, and is it expedient, to pass it in that 
shape ? 

On the motion for a committee, made some lime ago by the 
member from Pennsylvania, to which I have already referred, I 
suggested the.opinions which I entertain on one branch of (he power 
of Congress connected with this subject. The constitutional point, 
now arising, 1 do not mean to treat, nor to decide ; it is open to 
others, and will, no doubt, be discussed by them. But upon the ex- 
pediency or propriety of including banks and other corporations in 
this bill, I will say a few words. The State with which I am con- 
nected can have as little objection to include banks in the bankrupt 
bill as any other State. Many persons in Massachusetts, quite 
respectable and well informed, are in favor of the measure. But it 
appears to me they have not well considered the practical diffi- 
culties. Let us look at what is proposed to be done. 

There are eight hundred or a thousand State banks, each with its 
charter conferring its rights, prescribing its duties, and enjoining pen- 
alties. They are banks of deposit, banks of discount, and banks 
of circulation. It is now generally admitted that they are lawfully 
created. Their legal existence is established. They comprise, I 
suppose, two hundred millions of capital. Some of them are found- 
ed entirely on private ownership, while in some others the States 



452 

creating them are proprietors, and in some others again the States 
are sole proprietors. Some of them have a right to suspend for a 
Hmited time, others have not tliis right, the charter of each being its 
own constitution. 

Such being the general state of things, it is now proposed to 
subject all these banks to the operation of a bankrupt law, so that, 
when they stop payment for a day or an hour, their property and 
effects may be seized for distribution among their creditors, and their 
operations broken up. It is proposed to do this, although the char- 
ters of the banks may expressly authorize them to do that very 
thing, which is an act of bankruptcy under this bill, and for which 
their property is to he thus seized. Here is certainly a direct col- 
lision between State authority and the authority of the United 
States, which ought to be avoided whenev^er it can be. The act of 
Congress in this case would be made to repeal or annul pro tanto 
the law of the State. I do not say that this can in no case be done ; 
but I say that all such collisions ought to be avoided, if possible. 

It is proposed that Congress shall prescribe duties to the banks 
not prescribed by their own charters ; and for the violation of those 
duties, thus prescribed by Congress, it is proposed to proceed against 
them as bankrupts, to sequestrate their effects, and virtually annul 
their franchises. If this can be done, should it be done without 
clear and cogent necessity ? Without wishing to represent the 
proposition as extravagant, or speaking of it with disrespect, it seems 
to me to be bold, if not rash, until a case of absolute necessity is 
made out. What would become of the bank stock in case of such 
seizure and sequestration ? What extent of depression and fluctua- 
tion would attach to it, when such a law should be passed ? What 
would become of the entire circulation of the country, if a general 
suspension should happen, and all the banks should be thus seized ? 
What would become of the country, creditors, and debtors, and of 
all business, if a general suspension should happen, and all the 
banks should be placed in tlie hands of the federal courts, dieir 
paper entirely disgraced, and an immediate collection of all their 
debts attempted to be enforced ? What would become of some of the 
States who own the banks, and of others who derive revenues from 
them ? And how could such immense affairs be administered by 
the courts of the United States ? These difficulties appear to me to 
be startling. If, indeed, we were quite confident that such a pro- 
vision would hereafter prevent all general suspensions, we might 
venture upon the measure. We might expect to be able to deal 
with here and there an individual case. But this provision is not 
certain to prevent general suspension in great emergencies or great 
commercial revolutions. Twice, within a few years, the banks have 
suspended, notwithstanding the penalties of their own charters, and 
the laws of their own States. The real truth is, that, in the absence 



453 

of all regulation or control by Congress, the banks hav^e attempted, 
and tlo attempt, regulation by llicii' ow n concert of action. They 
make a law for themselves, 

A general suspension is the result of a general concurrence, or of 
a general conviction of the necessity of suspension, on the part of 
all the banks, or many of them. This has happened, and in the 
present state of affairs may happen again, notwithstanding a bank- 
rupt law. In my opinion, indeed, it is certain to happen, notwith- 
standing all the bankrupt laws we can pass, until Congress shall do 
its duty, by enacting prospective and preventive remedies; and if it 
should happen, one of two diings must ensue, — either Congress 
would be called together to repeal the law, or an utter and dead 
stop would take place in the payment of debts, in the concerns of 
commerce, and, indeed, in all the business of life. 

In addition to the charters, it is to be remembered that several of 
the Slates have provisions of their o\\ n, founded on their own stat- 
utes, for proceeding against failing banks. Such banks are put into 
commission, or under sequestration, by the State courts, and a judi- 
cial administration and settlement of their affairs take place. Is our 
bankrupt law expected to supersede these State bankrupt laws? 
Are our courts to dispossess the State courts ? 

Sir, I will not pursue tliis subject further. I repeat, that, in the 
part of the country to which I belong, I believe there is a pretty 
strong disposition to include the banks in the bankrupt law. The 
people in that quarter apprehend from it no danger to themselves 
or their own institutions, and they wish to see banks elsewhere 
coerced, by the most effectual means, to resume and to maintain spe- 
cie payments. I need not say that they are among the greatest suf- 
ferers by the present most ruinous state of things. They pay, and 
others do not pay them. They cannot long stand the present state 
of the currency, and, like them, I am ready to take any practical 
measure, any thing short of convulsive shocks, between State au- 
thority and the authority of the United States, to relieve it. But I 
confess that, for myself, to say nothing of the constitutional points, I 
see formidable difficulties in subjecting State banks to forfeiture and 
destruction by an act of bankruptcy. At any rate, if the banks are 
to be dealt with in bankruptcy at all, their case would require, obvi- 
ously, very many peculiar provisions, and they should constitute the 
subject of a bill by themselves. Such a bill should be prospective, 
the commencement of its operation deferred, the act of bankruptcy 
more clearly determined, provisions made to avoid, as far as possible, 
collision with State authorities, and provisions also for superseding 
the commission, on resumption of payment, or security given. Va- 
rious provisions of this kind, as it seems to me, would be essentially 
necessary. 

Leavmg this very important part of the case, another question 



454 

arises upon the proposed amendment. Shall the bankruptcy act, in 
its application to individuals, be voluntary only, or both voluntary 
and compulsory ? It is well known that I prefer that it should be 
both. I think all insolvent and failing persons should have power to 
come in under its provisions, and be voluntary bankrupts ; and 1 
think too, that, as to those who are strictly merchants and traders, 
creditors ought to have a right to proceed against them, in the com- 
mission of the usual acts of bankruptcy, and subject them to the 
provisions of the act. But the committee think otherwise. They 
find many objections to this from many parts of the country, and es- 
pecially from the West. In a country so extensive, with a people 
so various, with such different ideas and habits in regard to punctu- 
ality in commercial dealings, great opposition is anticipated to any 
measure so strict, and so penal, as a coercive bankruptcy. I content 
myself, therefore, with what I can get. I content myself with the 
voluntary bankruptcy. I am free to confess my leading object to 
be, to relieve those who are at present bankrupts, hopeless bank- 
rupts, and who cannot be discharged or set free but by a bankrupt 
act passed by Congress. 1 confess that their case forms the great 
motive of my conduct. It is their case which has created the 
general cry for the measure. Not that their interest is opposed to 
the interest of creditors ; still less that it is opposed to the general 
good of the country. On the contrary, I believe the interest of 
creditors would be gi'eatly benefited even by a system of voluntary 
bankruptcy alone, and I am quite confident that the public good 
would be eminently promoted. In my judgment, all interests con- 
cur ; and it is the duty of providing for these unfortunate insolvents, 
in a manner thus favorable to all interests, which I feel urging me 
forward on this occasion. 

And now, Sir, whence does this duty arise, which appears to me 
so pressing and imperative? How has it become so incumbent upon 
us 1 What are the considerations, what the reasons, which have so 
covered our tables with petitions from all classes and all quarters, 
and which have loaded the air with such loud and unanimous invo- 
cations to Congress to pass a bankrupt law ? 

Sir, let me remind you, in the first place, that, commercial as die 
country is, and having experienced as it has done, and experiencing 
as it now does, great vicissitudes of trade and business, it is now 
almost forty years since any law has been in force by which any 
honest man, failing in business, could be effectually discharged from 
debt by surrendering his property. The former bankrupt law was 
repealed December 19, 1803. From that day to this, the condition 
of an insolvent, however honest and worthy, has been utterly hope- 
less, so far as he depended on any legal mode of relief. This state 
of things has arisen from the peculiar provisions of the Constitution 
of the United States, and from the omission by Congress to exercise 



455 

this branch of its constitutional power. By the Constitufion, the 
States are prohibited from passing hiws ijnpairing the obligation of 
contracts. Bankrupt laws impair the obligation of contracts, if they 
discharge the bankrupt from his debts without payment. The 
States, therefore, cannot pass such laws. The power, then, is taken 
from the States, and placed in our hands. It is true that it lias been 
decided that, in regard to contracts entered into after the passage 
of any State bankrupt law, between the citizens of the State hav- 
ing such law, and sued in the State courts, a State discharge may 
prevaiL So far, effect has been given to State laws. I have great 
respect, habitually, for judicial decisions ; but it has, nevertheless, I 
must say, always appeared to me that the distinctions on which 
lliese decisions are founded are slender, and that they escape, with- 
out answering the great political and commercial objects intended 
to be secured by this part of the Constitution. But these decisions, 
whether right or wrong, afford no effectual relief. The qualifica- 
tions and limitations, which I have stated, render them useless, as to 
the purpose of a general discharge. So much of the concerns of 
every man of business is with citizens of other States than his own, 
and with foreigners, that the partial extent to which the validity of 
State discharges reaches, is of little benefit. 

The States, then, cannot pass effectual bankrupt laws ; that is. 
effectual tor the discharge of the debtor. There is no doubt that 
most, if not all, the States would now pass such laws, if they had 
the power ; although their legislation would be various, interfering, 
and full of all the evils which the Constitution of the United Slates 
intended to provide against. But ihey have not the power ; Con- 
gress, which has the power, does not exercise it. This is the pecu- 
liarity of our condition. The States would pass bankrupt laws, but 
they cannot ; we can, but we will not. And between this want of 
power in the States, and want of will in Congress, unfortunate in- 
solvents are left to hopeless bondage. There are probably one or 
two hundred thousand debtors, honest, sober, and industrious, who 
drag out lives, useless to themselves, useless to their families, and 
useless to their country, for no reason but that they cannot be 
legally discharged from debts, in" which misfortunes have involved 
them, and which there is no possibility of their ever paying. I re- 
peat, again, that these cases have now been accumulating for a 
whole generation. 

It is true they are not imprisoned ; hut they may be, and there 
are, restraint and bondage outside the walls of a jail, as well as in. 
Their power of earning is, in truth, taken away ; their fiiculty of use- 
ful employment is paralyzed, and hope itself becomes extinguished. 
Creditors, generally, are not inhuman or unkind ; but there will be 
found some who hold on, and the more a debtor slrunLdes to free 
himself, the more they feel encouraged to hold on. The mode of 
reasoning is, that the more honest the debtor may be, the more in- 



456 

dustrlous, the more disposed to struggle and bear up against his mis- 
fortunes, the greater the chance is, that in the end, especially if the 
humanity of others shall have led them to release him, their own 
debts may be finally recovered. 

Now, in this state of our constitutional powers and duties, in this 
state of our laws, and with this actually existing condition of so many 
insolvents before us, it is not too serious to ask every member of the 
Senate to put it to his own conscience to say, whether we are not 
bound to exercise our constitutional duty. Can we abstain fiom 
exercising it ? The States give to their own laws all the effect 
they can. This shows that they desire the power to be exercised. 
Several States have, in the most solemn manner, made known their 
earnest wishes to Congress. If we still refuse, what is to be done ? 
Many of these insolvent persons are young men, with young fami- 
lies. Like other men, they have capacities both for action and en- 
joyment. Are we to stifle all these, forever ? Are we to suffer all 
persons, many of them meritorious and respectable, to be pressed to 
the earth forever, by a load of helpless debt ? The existing diversi- 
ties and contradictions of State laws on the subject admirably illus- 
trate the objects of this part of the Constitution, as stated by Mr. 
Madison ; and they form that precise case for which the clause was 
inserted. The very evil intended to be provided against is before 
us, and around us, and pressing us on all sides. How can we, how 
dare we, make a perfect dead letter of this part of the Constitution, 
which we have sworn to support ? The insolvent persons have not 
the power of locomotion. They cannot travel from State to State. 
They are prisoners. To my certain knowledge, there are many who 
cannot even come here to the seat of Government, to present their 
petitions to Congress, so great is their fear that some creditor will 
clog their heels, and arrest them in some intervening State, or in this 
District, in the hope that friends will appear to save them, by pay- 
ment of the debts, from imprisonment. These are truths ; not cred- 
itable to the country, — but they are truths. I am sorry for their 
existence. Sir, there is one crime, quite too common, which the laws 
of man do not punish, but which cannot escape the justice of God ; 
and that is, the arrest and confinement of a debtor, by his creditor, 
with no motive on earth but the hope that some friend, or some rel- 
ative, perhaps almost as poor as himself, — his mother it may be, or his 
sisters, or his daughters, — will give up all their own little pittance, and 
make betro-ars of themselves, to save him from the horrors of a loath- 
some jail. Human retribution cannot reach this guilt ; human feel- 
ing may not penetrate the flinty heart that perpetrates it ; but an 
hour is surely coming, with more than human retribution on its 
wings, when that flint shall be melted, either by the power of peni- 
tence and grace, or in the fires of remorse. 

Sir, I verily believe that the power of perpetuating debts against 



457 

debtors, for no substantial good to the creditor himself, and the power 
of imprisonment for debt, at least as it existed in this country ten 
years ago, have imposed more restraint on personal liberty than the 
law of debtor and creditor imposes in any other Christian and com- 
mercial countiy. If any i)ublic good were attained, any high politi- 
cal object answered, by such laws, there might be some reason for 
counsellino; submission and suiferance to individuals. But the result 
is bad, every way. It is bad to the public and to the country, 
which loses the efforts and the industry of so many useful and 
capable citizens. It is bad to creditors, because there is no security 
against preferences, no principle of equality, and no encouragement 
for honest, fair, and seasonable assignments of effects. As to the 
debtor, however good his intentions or earnest his endeavors, it sub- 
dues his spirit, and degrades him in his own esteem ; and if he at- 
tempts any thing for the purpose of obtaining tood and clothing for 
his family, he is driven to unworthy shifts and disguises, to the use 
of other persons' names, to the adoption of the character of agent, 
and various other contrivances, to keep the little earnings of the day 
from the reach of his creditors. Fathers act in the name of their 
sons, sons act in the name of their fathers ; all constantly exposed to 
the greatest temptation to misrepresent facts and to evade the law, 
if creditors should strike. All this is evil, unmixed evil. And 
what is it all for ? What good to any body ? Who likes it ? Who 
wishes it ? What class of creditors desires it ? What consideration 
of public good demands it ? 

Sir, we talk much, and talk warmly, of political liberty ; and well 
we may, for it is among the chief of public blessings. But who 
can enjoy political liberty if he is deprived, permanendy, of personal 
liberty, and the exercise of his own industry, and his own faculties? 
To those unfortunate individuals, doomed to the everlasting bond- 
age of debt, what is it that we have free institutions of Govern- 
ment ? What is it that we have public and popular assemblies ? 
Nay, to them, what is even this Constitution itself, in its actual 
operation, and as we now administer it, — what is its aspect to them, 
but an aspect of stern, implacable severity ? — an aspect of refusal, 
denial, and frowning rebuke ? — nay, more than that, an aspect not 
only of austerity and rebuke even, but, as they must think it, of 
plain injustice also ; since it will not relieve them, nor suffer others to 
give diem relief. What love can they feel towards the Constitution 
of their country, which has taken the power of striking off their 
bonds from their own paternal State Governments, and yet, inexora- 
ble to all the cries of justice and of mercy, holds it, unexercised, in 
its own fast and unrelenting clinch ? They find themselves bonds- 
men, because we will not execute the commands of the Constitu- 
tion — bondsmen to debts they cannot pay, and which all know they 
cannot pay, and which take away the power of supporting them- 

VOL. III. 58 MM 



458 

selves. Other slaves have masters, charged with the duty of sup- 
port and protection ; but their masters neither clothe, nor feed, nor 
shelter ; — they only bind. 

But, Sir, the fault is not in the Constitution. The Constitution is 
beneficent as well as wise in all its provisions on this subject ; but the 
fault, I must be allowed to say, is in us, who have suffered ourselves 
quite too long to neglect the duty incumbent upon us. The time 
will come, Sir, when we shall look back and wonder at the long 
delay of this just and salutary measure. We shall feel, as we now 
feel, when we reflect on that progress of opinion which has already 
done so much on another connected subject ; I mean the abolition 
of imprisonment for debt. What should we say at this day, if it 
were proposed to reestablish arrest and imprisonment for debt, as it 
existed in most of the States even so late as twenty years ago ? I 
mean for debt alone, for mere, pure debt, without charge or suspicion 
of fraud or falsehood. 

Sir, it is about that length of time, I think, since you, who now 
preside over our deliberations, began here your efforts for the aboli- 
tion of imprisonment for debt ; and a better work was never begun in 
the Capitol. Ever remembered and ever honored be that noble 
effort ! You drew the attention of the public to the question, 
whether, in a civilized and Christian country, debt incurred without 
fraud, and remaining unpaid without fault, is a crime, and a crime fit 
to be punished by denying to the offender the enjoyment of the light 
of heaven, and shutting him up within four walls. Your own good 
sense, and that instinct of right feeling, which often outruns sao;a- 
city, carried you at once to a result tQ which others were more 
slowly brought, but to which nearly all have at length been brought, 
by reason, reflection, and argument. Your movement led the 
way ; it became an example, and has had a powerful effect on both 
sides of the Atlantic. Imprisonment for debt, or even arrest and 
holding to bail for mere debt, no longer exists in England ; and 
former laws on the subject have been greatly modified and mitigated, 
as we all know, in our States. " Abolition of imprisonment for 
debt " — your own words in the title of your own bill — have be- 
come the title of an act of Parliament. 

Sir, I am glad of an occasion to pay you the tribute of my own 
sincere respect for these your labors in the cause of humanity and 
enlightened policy. For these labors thousands of grateful hearts 
have thanked you ; and other thousands of hearts, not yet full of joy 
for the accomplishment of their hopes, — full, rather, at the present 
moment, of deep and distressing anxiety, — have yet the pleasure to 
know that your advice, your counsel, and your influence, will all be 
given in favor of what is intended for their relief, in the bill before us. 

Mr. President, let us atone for the omissions of the past by a 
prompt and efficient discharge of present duty. The demand for 



459 

this measure is not partial or local. It comes to us, earnest and 
loud, from all classes and all quarters. The time is come when we 
must answer it to our own breasts, if we suffer longer delay or post- 
ponement. High hopes, high duties, and high responsibilities, con- 
centrate themselves on this measure and this moment. With a 
power to pass a bankrupt law, — that which no other Legislature in 
the country possesses, — with a power of giving relief to many, 
doing injustice to none, I again ask every man who hears me, if he 
can content himself without an honest attempt to exercise that pow- 
er ? We may think it would be better to leave the power with the 
States ; but it was not left with the States ; they have it not, and we 
cannot give it to them. It is in our hands, lo be exercised by us, or 
to be forever useless and lifeless. Under these circumstances, does 
not every man's heart tell him that he has a duty to discharge ? If 
the final vote shall be given this day, and if that vote shall leave 
thousands of our fellow-citizens and their families, in hopeless and help- 
less distress, to everlasting subjection to irredeemable debt, can we 
go to our beds with satisfied consciences ? Can we lay our heads 
upon our pillows, and, without self-reproach, supplicate the Almighty 
]\Iercy to forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors ? Sir, let 
us meet the unanimous wishes of the country, and proclaim relief to 
the unfortunate throughout the land. What should hinder ? What 
should stay our hands from this good work ? Creditors do not op- 
pose it ; they apply for it ; debtors solicit it with importunity, earn- 
estness, and anxiety, not to be described ; the Constitution enjoins it; 
and all the considerations of justice, policy, and propriety, which are 
wrapped up in the phrase Pubhc Duty, demand it, as I think, and 
demand it loudly and imperatively from our hands. Sir, let us 
gratify the whole country, for once, with the joyous clang of chains, 
— joyous because heard falling from the limbs of men. The wisest 
among those whom I address can desire nothing more beneficial than 
this measure, or njore universally desired ; and he who is youngest 
may not expect to live long enough to see a better opportunity of 
causing new pleasures and a happiness long untasted to spring up in 
the hearts of the poor and the humble. How many husbands and 
fathers are looking with hopes which they cannot suppress, and yet 
hardly dare to cherish, for the result of this debate ! How many 
wives and mothers will pass sleepless and feverish nights, until they 
know whether they and their families shall be raised from poverty, 
despondency, and despair, and restored again to the circles of indus- 
trious, independent, and happy life ! 

Sir, let it be to the honor of Congress that, in these days of po- 
litical strife and controversy, we have laid aside for once the sin that 
most easily besets us, and, with unanimity of counsel, and with 
singleness of heart and of purpose, have accomplished for our coun- 
try one measure of unquestionable good. 



SPEECH 



IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, JUNE 5, 1840, ON MR. 
CLAY'S MOTION TO STRIKE OUT THE COMPULSORY PART OF THE 
BANKRUPT BILL. 



Mr. Webster addressed the Senate as follows: — 

The commendable temper in which the discussion has been so far 
conducted, leads me to hope that now, when we are in the midst of 
the difficulties of the question, the Senate will indulge me in a few 
remarkis. That there are difficulties I freely acknowledge. The 
subject of bankruptcies is a difficult subject every where, and per- 
haps particularly difficult here, as one of the results of a division of 
legislative powers between Congress and the States. But these 
difficulties are not insurmountable, and their only influence, there- 
fore, should be to stimulate our efforts, and to increase at once our 
caution and our zeal. 

It seems agreed, by all the friends of any bankrupt bill, that there 
shall be a provision for voluntary bankruptcy. Tlie question now 
is, whether there ought to be also a compulsory power, or a power 
on the part of creditors to subject their debtors, in certain cases, to 
the operation of the law. 

It is well known that the bill by me introduced contained such a 
power, and I should still prefer to retain it. But I do not think 
this of so much importance as some other gentlemen, and should 
cheerfully support a bill which should not contain it, if by so doing 
I should contribute to the general success of the measure. In truth, 
on this question, and on many others, my vote will be governed by 
a desire to make the bill acceptable to others. 

Now, Sir, the argument for the compulsory clause is, that, with- 
out this power, the creditors have no security ; that the bill is a 
one-sided measure, a measure for the benefit and relief of debtors 
only, quite regardless of the just rights of creditors. All this I deny. 
I maintain, on the contrary, not only that there is just security for 
the rights of creditors under the voluntary part of the bill, but that 
that part, of itself, and by itself, is of the highest value and impor- 
tance to creditors. This proposition takes for granted, what 1 have 
no doubt will be found true, that persons in insolvent circumstances 

460 



461 

will generally become voluntary bankrupts. And, in the second 
place, I maintain that very little value is added to the security of 
creditors by the compulsory part of the bill. 

Tliese are points on which I propose now particularly to address 
the Senate, and, with its patience, I hope to make them clear. 

When I .speak of creditors, I mean the class of creditors general- 
ly, or all who, in the course of business, give trust for merchandise, 
or other things sold, or for money loaned. 

When I speak of the creditors of insolvents, I mean the cred- 
itors, in the mass, of such persons as are actually and really insol- 
vent, — that is, unable to pay their debts, — whether their insolvency 
be known and acknowledijed or not. 

And to creditors, and the rights of creditors, in both these senses 
and uses of the word, I maintain that the provisions contained in 
the voluntary part of this bill are of great value. 

The rights of creditors are the means which the laws furnish for 
the enforcement and collection of their debts. In the case of an 
insolvent debtor, the laws at present give to the creditor, among 
other things, a right to pursue and demand his future earnings. 
This right the present bill proposes to take away. 

The question is, therefore, whether, in taking away this right, 
the bill provides for the creditor any just equivalent. 

I do not admit, indeed, that by a bankrupt law we might not 
take away some of the existing rights, or remedies, of creditors, if it 
should appear just and proper to do so, without providing any new 
right or remedy as an equivalent. The relation of debtor and cred- 
itor forms a general subject of legislation. The proper law-making 
power may act upon this relation, and alter and modify it, upon 
principles of general policy, justice, and utility, whenever it sees fit. 

But I am willing to occupy a narrower ground, and to undertake 
to show that, by the provisions of this bill, we leave creditors in a 
better condition than we found them ; in other words, that, as a 
voluntary system alone, it is beneficial to creditors. 

The law, it is proposed, shall last some few years, that Congress 
and the country may see what is its actual operation. It will act 
immediately after it shall have passed; and this operation, as I 
maintain, will be favorable to creditors. In other words, the law 
will be useful to creditors, in the creation of debts. It will, I in- 
sist, increase the probability that he who parts with his money or 
his merchandise, on credit, will be paid for his merchandise, or 
repaid his money. Sir, we live in a highly commercial country, 
and a highly commercial and enterprising age. The system of 
credit, which I hold to be very useful, and, indeed, essential to our 
general prosperity, may, no doubt, be carried to excess. There is 
such a thing as over-trading, and such a thing as false credit ; and 
both these things are public evils. All admit this ; and many think 

MM* 



462 

the evils so great, that they seem to be enemies to the credit system 
ahogether. I am not one of these ; but still I desire to keep credit 
within bounds, and to avoid over-trading. 

Now, Sir, what is it that upholds so much false credit? What 
is it that enables men to extend their transactions so far beyond 
their capital ? What is it that enables them, also, to go on, often 
for a long time, after they become really insolvent? Sir, it is the 
practice of endorsement and suretiship — a practice, I venture to 
say, more extensive in the United States than in any other country. 
Men get trust upon the strength of other men's names. I .:o not 
speak of the discount of notes and bills taken in the common op- 
erations of sale and purchase, but I speak of pure accommodation, 
of the discount of paper representing no transaction of sale or 
purchase, but made for borrowing money merely, and endorsed for 
the sole accommodation of the borrower. That great excesses 
have been committed in operations of this kind, no man who has 
attended to the transactions of trade can doubt ; nor can any one 
doubt that great evils arise from this source. Endorsement and 
suretiship, therefore, are the means by which excessive and false 
credit is upholden. And how is this endorsement obtained ? This 
leads us one step farther in the inquiry. How is it that persons, 
continuing to carry on business after they are really insolvent, and 
are suspected, if not known, to be so, can procure others to endorse 
their paper ? Sir, we all know how it is. It is by promising to 
secure endorsers at all events. It is by giving an assurance that, 
if the party stops, a preference shall be made, and the favored 
creditors shall be his endorsers. Hence it is quite general, perhaps 
universal, that, when an insolvent assigns his property for the ben- 
efit of his creditors, he classifies his creditors, and puts endorsers 
into the first class. This has become a sort of honorary law. A 
man that disregards it, is, in some measure, disgraced. We hear 
daily of honorary debts, and we hear reproaches against those who, 
being insolvent, have yet pushed on, in the hope of retrieving their 
affairs, until, when failure does come, — and come it does, sooner 
or later, — they have not enough left to discharge these honorary 
obligations. Now, at the bottom of all this is preference. The 
preference of one creditor to another, both debts being honest, is 
allowed by the general rules of law, but is not allowed by bank- 
rupt laws. And this right of preference is the foundation on which 
the structure rests. 

On the legal right or power of preference lies the promise of 
preference. 

On the promise of preference lies endorsement. 

On endorsement lies extensive and false credit. 

On excessive and false credit lies over-trading. 

This, Sir, is the regular stratification. If we strike out prefer- 



463 

ence> we shall knock away the foundation stone. And this bill 
will strike it out. 

If this bill shall pass, every endorser, who shall not take previ- 
ous security, will see that, in case of failure, he can no longer be 
protected, or preferred, but must come in for his sl^are, and his 
share only, with other creditors. And this is right. For one, I 
have always thought that, if any difference were to be made, en- 
dorsers should be paid last, because they come in as volunteers — 
they profess to run a risk. They are not giving credit in the com- 
mon way, as other persons do, who sell on trust, in the ordinary 
way of business, and in order to earn their livelihood ; but they 
assume a voluntary responsibility. And why should they be pre- 
ferred to the grocer, the tailor, or the butcher, who has only dealt 
in the common way of his trade, and has not volunteered to give 
any trust or credit whatever? Well, Sir, will not endorsement 
stay its hand when this bill shall have taken away all power of 
preference ? Will not men hesitate, more than they now do, about 
lending their names, when they find that, in case of failure, they 
must come in for neighbor's fare, with all other creditors? I think 
they will. 

And, Sir, if there be less of endorsement, there will be less of 
fictitious credit, and less of over-trading. Every man's business 
will be brouglit down so much the nearer to his own property, his 
own capital, and his own means. And, if every trading man's 
business be brought down to some nearer proportion to his own 
capital, and his own means, does not this diminish the probability 
of his failure? Certainly it does; and, therefore, whoever deals 
with him, and trusts him, is not so likely to lose his debt. There 
will be more general security in giving credits. And, therefore, I 
say that, if you take away the power and practice of preference, 
you affect, to some extent, false credit and over-trading ; and, by 
these means, you give a security to the creditor, even in the crea- 
tion of his debt; and this is one advantage, to the whole class of 
creditors, to be expected from this bill. It is a general advantage, 
and its precise amount cannot be stated ; but it is a clear advantage, 
nev( riheless. 

Eut there is a second, and a still greater advantage. 

Mr President, allow me to ask, What is that feature — the capital 
feature — which we most often see, in the insolvencies which take 
place among the trading classes ? What is tliat which there is the 
more frequent occasion to regret and to reprehend ? Is it not that 
the party has gone on too long ? Is it not that, after he knew him- 
self to be really insolvent, — that is, after he knew he had not prop- 
erty enough left to pay his debts, — instead of stopping, and winding 
up his concerns, he has ventured still deeper, and made his ultimate 
case thereby still more desperate ? Under the present state of law, 



464 

this happens quite too often. I am afraid it would be found, on 
inquiry, that failures are generally worse in this country than else- 
where ; that is to say, that generally the amount of assets is less in 
proportion to the amount of debts. 

And, in my opinion, the present state of the law encourages and 
produces this result. For, Sir, let me ask, What will a man natural- 
ly do, who has been unfortunate, and has sustained such losses as to 
bring his property below his debts, while this is known to himself, 
and not known to others ? If he stops and surrenders, however 
honestly and fairly, he cannot be sure of a discharge, and the un- 
paid balance may keep him a pauper for life. On the other hand, 
he sees that another voyage, another speculation, some new turn of 
fortune, may possibly relieve him, and bring him out a man of 
property. 

On one side, poverty for life is his only prospect, and only desti- 
ny, so far at least as the law allows him any ground of hope ; and 
on the other, there is some chance of escape. Now, Sir, I will ask 
any sensible man, if a state of law could be devised more likely to 
encourage headlong enterprise and rash speculation ? Can you 
place a man in a condition where he will be more likely to throw 
himself upon desperate chances, and to plunge deeper and deeper ? 

We are not without experience on this point, and much instruc- 
tion may be gathered from one memorable instance. The great 
fire in New York is supposed to have destroyed property to the 
amount of twenty or twenty-five millions of dollars, in houses, ware- 
houses, and merchandise. But nobody failed. This is a fact full 
of admonition. I pray attention to it. Nobody failed, notwith- 
standing this immense loss of property ; and what was the reason ? 
No one doubts that hundreds were rendered deeply insolvent by 
this so extensive calamity. Why, then, did they not stop ? The 
answer is, that the extent of their losses was, in many cases, known 
only to themselves, and they concealed their own true condition. 
And they had strong motives so to do. If they announced them- 
selves insolvent, and stopped, nothing was before them and their 
famihes, for their whole lives, but poverty and distress. On the oth- 
er hand, there was a possibility of hope that, if they could maintain 
their credit, they might, by extreme exertion and extreme good for- 
tune, extricate tliemselves. On the strength of that hope, slight as 
it was, they buoyed themselves up, and tried to stem the current 
which was carrying them, notwithstanding all their struggles, to 
utter and desperate bankruptcy. They paid exorbitant interest for 
money ; they suffered themselves to be jewed in every dark alley 
m the city ; they sacrificed every thing to maintain their credit, and, 
in the end, when every thing else was gone, credit went also. And 
when they finally failed, where was the fund for dividend to cred- 
itors ? Why, Sir, it had gone to the pocket of the capitalist ; it had 



465 

been devoured by the voracity of usury. I know of one instance 
in which a merchant paid more tlian fifty thousand dolhu's, extra and 
uiiUuvliil interest, for the purpose of upholding his credit, and failed 
after all. And there are well-authenticated cases of payment of 
still larger sums. Boundless extras and cool exorbitancy were thus 
suffered to eat up what belonged to creditors. 

Now, Sir, would it not have been better for all parties, and for the 
public, that these unfortunate persons should have stopped payment 
the morning after the fire, assigned all that was left of their proper- 
ty, and received a discharge? And this, be assured, many of them 
would have done, if the law had provided that by so doing they 
might have obtained that discharge. But there was no such legal 
provision ; they had no hope on that side, but from the consent of 
all their creditors, and they believed that all would not consent; and 
therefore there was no way left to them but to keep on, wading into 
deeper water at every step, and stopping at last with nothing to 
divide save among endorsers. 

^Ir. President, we hear it frequently said that all honest debtors 
may always obtain discharges from their creditors upon an honest 
assignment of their effects. This is the language of the memorial 
of the Board of Trade, and this is the language, especially, of the 
letter to the honorable member from New York, which has been 
read. Sir, such is not my opinion, nor the fruit of my experience. 
I believe that creditors are generally humane and just ; but there 
will be some, always, or often, who are selfish, unjust, or indiffer- 
ent. There will be some, often, who will not conipound. The 
man, therefore, who would stop, since he knows he is insolvent, if 
he could be sure of a discharge, cannot be sure of it. He may be 
as honest as possible ; he may strip himself of the last farthing ; but 
yet he cannot promise himself any release. It is notorious that 
some creditors will and do hold on ; and as to the debtor, this is as 
decisive as if all did so. 

Now, Sir, this bill proposes an object to a man whose circum- 
stances have become insolvent, and makes that object sure. It tells 
him, by way of inducing him to stop in season, and before he has 
wasted his property, that, by assigning, and acting honestly in all 
things, he shall have a discharge; that no unreasonable creditor 
shalf be able to prevent it; and with this certainty before him, he 
will stop in season, or, at least, is much more likely to stop in sea- 
son, than he is at present. 

This, then, Sir, is the second benefit which this bill confers on 
creditors. And who will deny that it is a clear and a great benefit? 
It holds out a strong inducement to debtors to stop in season, and 
to distribute their property honestly, while they have yet property 
to distribute, and before they have wasted it all in useless sacrifices 
to retrieve their affairs. 
VOL. III. 59 



fl 



466 

But there is a third henefit which this bill confers on creditors. 
It lakes away the power and the motive of concealment. Under 
the present state of things, the motives of an insolvent man lead in 
the opposite direction of his duties. Every thing is brought to bear 
against his honesty and integrity. He has every temptation to con- 
ceal his property ; and there are many ways in which he may con- 
ceal it. If he surrenders all, he cannot be discharged, and, there- 
fore, will be in no condition to earn any thing more. He may, 
therefore, not choose to surrender, and may set his creditors at defi- 
ance. I have heard of an instance, in which a man failed for one 
hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and he showed assets to the 
amount of eighty thousand, and there was no reason to suppose that 
he had any more, or had acted dishonestly in any way. He offered 
to give all up for a discharge ; but while most of his creditors were 
willing to discharge him on such a surrender, some were not. A 
year afterwards, he renewed his offer of giving up all, but his prop- 
erly had by this time become diminished by ten thousand dollars, 
so that he had but seventy thousand to offer ; and the obstinate 
creditors of last year were now wilhng to take what was then 
offered, but would not take less ; and so the process of offer and 
refusal went on ; and the last I heard of the case, this proceeding 
was likely to result in the creditors' getting nothing, and the debtor's 
becoming a beggar. 

If there be not many cases exactly like this, or quite so strong in 
all their circumstances, there are still very many which much 
resemble it; and this bill will put an end to them all. 

Sir, the great power by which the debtor is to be moved to 
act honestly and fairly, is his hope of a discharge. This is to him 
every thing. Hardly any earthly object, in his view, can be great- 
er. It is this which is to reinstate him in a condition of effort and 
action. Creditors can obtain a benefit, by means of this, far supe- 
rior to any good which they can ever get by holding on to his 
future earnings. Generally, this last right is good for nothing lo tne 
mass of creditors, though sometimes an individual may profit oy it. 
In some cases, it is true, where the amount of debt is small, the 
bankrupt will struggle hard to earn the means of payment, that he 
may afterwards work for himself. But if the amount be large, he 
will make no such effort. He will not work altogether for his cred- 
itors. Not only will he not do that, but, as I have already said, he 
is under strong temptation to retain and conceal what he already 
possesses. I need not say of what evil consequence all this is. I 
need not say what ill-will naturally grows up between debtors and 
creditors standing in this relation. The creditor thinks his debtor 
unjust and roguish ; the debtor regards his creditor as remorseless 
and cruel ; and mutual reproaches and deep bitterness of feeling are 
often the result. How much better, Sir, — how much better, every 



467 

^vay, — that the law, by its timely interference, should give the debt- 
or's property to whom it belongs, and set him free to begin a new 
career of industry and usefulness ! 

And in the fourth place, Sir, this bill gives the creditors an equal 
distribution of the debtor's effects. In the present state of things, a 
bankrupt may pay one creditor all, and another nothing ; and he 
who gets nothing may, perhaps, fail himself, when, if he could have 
received his just proportion, he might have been saved. The great 
interest of the mass of creditors is, that the debtor's effects shall be 
equally divided among them all. At present, there is no security 
for such equal division, and tiiis hill proposes to give that security. 
And I repeat, that if any thing ever comes of the power of a cred- 
itor to hold on upon his debt, in the hope of getting something out 
of the future earnings of a notoriously insolvent debtor, it is usually 
not the mass of creditors, but only some one of them who gets any 
thing ; and that one, very likely, may be he who deserves least. 

These, Mr. President, are the securities, the new securities, the 
important securities, which this bill furnishes to the creditors. If 
there be nothing in them, let that be shown ; but until it is shown, 
let it not be said that there is nothing in this bill for the creditors' 
benefit. 

And, Mr. President, these provisions belong to the voluntary as 
well as the involuntary parts of the bill. The real reciprocity, the 
real equivalent, must be looked for in the provisions made for con- 
ducting the proceedings, and not in the source in which the proceed- 
ings originate. Suppose creditors to have ever so full a power of 
declaring their debtors bankrupts; this would not avail them, unless 
proper provisions were made for a full assignment and fair distribu- 
tion of the property. 

On the other hand, if such provisions be made, the creditor is 
secured, although the proceedings originate with the debtor himself. 
It may be wise, or it may be unwise, to retain the coercive clauses ; 
but, whether retained or not, they do not constitute the true equiv- 
alent or reciprocal benefit of the creditor. The real state of the 
case stands thus : The benefit of a debtor consists in obtaining a dis- 
charge ; this he shall have, but, in order to obtain it, he shall give 
the creditors the benefit of a full and honest surrender of all his 
property ; he shall show, if a merchant, that he has kept proper 
and regular books of account ; it must not appear that there has 
been any false swearing on his part, or the concealment of any part 
of his property ; or that he has admitted any false or fictitious debt 
against his estate; or that he has applied any tmst money to his 
own use ; or that he has paid any debt by w ay of preferring one 
creditor to another, in contemplation of bankruptcy. And the 
Senate, if they see fit, may insert that the consent of creditors should 
be necessary to his discharge, though, for one, I should never consent 



468 

to that, without reserving a right to the debtor to summon dissenting 
creditors to appear before the proper tribunal, and show some just 
reason for withholding their assent. 

I have now, Sir, gone through with all that I proposed to say 
upon the voluntary part of this bill. My undertaking was, to show 
that that part of the bill does, by itself, and of and in itself alone, 
contain provisions of the highest importance to creditors, and the 
security of creditors ; and, on the various points which I have no- 
ticed, I am ready to meet any gentleman who may choose to con- 
test the matter. The opinions which I have expressed I hold with 
confidence, and am willing to defend them, and to submit them to 
the judgment of all men of experience. 

My second general proposition was, that, whether it it were ad- 
visable, on the whole, or not, to retain the compulsory part, yet that 
part did not give any important addition to the security of cred- 
itors ; and tliat, therefore, it was not of great consequence whether 
it be retained or not. 

In the first place, let us remember that the form of proceeding 
is the same, after its commencement, whether it be begun by the 
debtor or his creditor. If there be any benefit to the creditor at 
all in the compulsory part, it must be in the mere power of de- 
claring his debtor a bankrupt under certain circumstances, and of 
making him, willing or unwilling, go through the bankrupt process. 
Now, the difficulty is, that, though this power might sometimes be 
beneficial to the creditor, yet it is next to impossible so to describe 
the circumstances which shall constitute a just occasion for the 
exercise of the power, as not to leave it still, in a great measure, a 
voluntary matter with the debtor, when he will subject himself to 
the provisions of the law. This has been found the difficulty in 
all systems ; and most bankruptcies are, therefore, now substantially 
voluntary. Those acts w^iich are, in this bill, called acts of bank- 
ruptcy, and which, if committed, shall enable a creditor to sue out 
a commission against his debtor, are, nearly all of them, voluntary 
acts, which the debtor may perform or not, at his pleasure, and 
which, of course, he will not perform, if he wishes to avoid the 
process of bankruptcy. 

These acts, as stated in the bill, are, secretly departing from the 
State, with intent to defraud his creditors ; fraudulently procuring 
himself to be arrested, or his lands and goods attached or taken in 
execution ; removing or concealing his goods, to prevent their being 
levied upon or taken by legal process; making any fraudulent con- 
veyance of his lands or goods ; lying in jail twenty days for want 
of bail, or escaping from jail, or not giving security according to 
law, when his lands or effects shall be attached by process. 

Most of these acts an insolvent may avoid the commission of, if 
he choose, especially as there are now few instances of imprison- 



469 

ment for debt. The acts of bankruptcy, according to the British 
statute, are very much hke those in this bill. But a trader may 
declare himself insolvent, and thereupon a commission may issue 
against him ; and that is supposed to be now the common course. 
Creditors will seldom, if ever, use this power. A creditor, desirous 
of proceeding against his debtor for |)ayment or security, naturally 
acts for himself alone. He arrests his person, attaches his proper- 
ty, if the law allows that to be done, or gets security for his own 
debt the best way he can, leaving others to look out for themselves. 
Concert among creditors, in such cases, is not necessary, and is 
uncommon ; and a single creditor, acting for himself only, is much 
more likely to take other means for the security of his debt than 
that of putting his debtor into bankruptcy. Nevertheless, 1 admit 
there are possible cases in which the power might be useful. I 
admit it would be well if creditors could sometimes stop the career 
of their debtors ; and, if the honorable member from New York, 
or any other gentleman, can frame a clause for that purpose, at 
once efficient and safe, I shall vote for it. Even as these clauses 
now stand, I should prefer to have them in the bill ; my original 
proposition having been, as is well known, that there should be both 
compulsory and voluntary bankruptcy ; and I vote now to strike 
the provision out, only because others, I find, object to it, and be- 
cause 1 do not think it of any great importance. 

I proceed. Sir, to take some notice of the remarks of the honor- 
able member from New York ; and what I have first to say is, 
that his speech appeared to me to be a speech against the whole 
bill, rather than a speech in favor of retaining the compulsory 
clause. He pointed out the evils that might arise from the volun- 
tary part of the bill ; but every one of them might arise, too, under 
the ot|icr part. He spoke of the hardship to creditors in New 
York, — that they should be obliged to take notice of the insol- 
vency of their debtors in the Western States, and to go thither to 
prove their debts, or resist the discharge. But this hardship, cer- 
tainly, is no greater when the Western debtor declares himself 
bankrupt, than when he commits an act of bankruptcy, on which 
some Western creditor sues out a commission afjainst him. 

All the other inconveniences, dangers, or hardships to creditors, 
which the honorable gendeman enumerated, were, in like manner, 
as far as I recollect, as likely to arise when a creditor puts the 
debtor into bankruptcy, as when he puts himself in. The gentle- 
man's argument, therefore, is an argument against the whole bill. 
He thinks Eastern creditors of Western debtors will be endangered, 
because State Legislatures, in Slates where debtors live, as well as 
commissioners, assignees, &lc., will have all their sympathies on the 
side of the debtors. Why, Sir, State Legislatures will have nothing 
to do with the matter, under this bill ; and as to the rest, how is it 

NN 



470 

now? Are not creditors, now in tne power of local administra- 
tions, affected, in all respects, by these same sympathies ? Are 
there no instances, indeed, and is there no danger of laws staying 
process, embarrassing remedies, or otherwise interrupting the regu- 
lar course of legal collection ? For my own part, I cannot doubt 
that a New York merchant, learning that his debtor in the South 
or West was in insolvent or failing circumstances, would prefer that 
his affairs should be settled in bankruptcy, in the courts of the 
United States, much sooner than he should settle them himself, 
paying whom he pleased, and disposing of his property according 
to his own will, or under the administration of the insolvent laws 
of the State. 

The gentleman seemed to fear that, if Western traders may make 
themselves bankrupts, New York merchants will be shy of them, 
and that Western credit will be impaired or checked. Perhaps 
there would be no great harm if this should be so. A little more 
caution might not be unprofitable ; but the answer to all such sug- 
gestions is, that the bill applies only to cases of insolvents, actual, 
real insolvents ; and, when traders are actually insolvent, the sooner 
it is known the better, nine times out of ten. Nor do I feel any 
alarm for our mercantile credit abroad, which has awakened the 
fears of the gentleman. What can foreign merchants suppose 
better for them than such an administration of the effects of debtors 
here, as that, if there be foreign creditors, they shall be sure of a 
just and equal dividend, without preference either to creditors at 
home or endorsers? It is not long since, in some of the States, — 
I hope it is not so any where now, — that creditors within the State 
had preference over creditors out of it. And, if we look to other 
countries, do we find that well-administered systems of bankruptcy 
enfeeble or impair mercantile credit ? Is it so in regard to England, 
or to France ? 

The honorable member feels alarm, too, lest the banks should be 
great sufferers under the operation of this bill. He is apprehensive 
that, if it shall pass, very many debtors of the banks will become 
bankrupts, pay other creditors, more or less, and pay the banks 
nothing. Sir, this is not according to my observation. Bank debts 
are usually preferred debts, because they are debts secured by 
endorsement. But, by mentioning the case of the banks, the gen- 
tleman has suggested ideas which I have long entertained, and which 
I am glad of this opportunity to express briefly, though I shall not 
dwell on them. 

Sir, a great part of the credit of the country is bank credit. A 
great part of all endorsement and suretiship is bank endorsement 
and bank suretiship. I do not speak particularly of the great 
cities ; I speak of the country generally. Now, endorsement, as 1 
have already said, rests on the idea of preference. And, if we 



471 

take away preference, do we not diminish bank endorsement and 
bank accommodation ? And do we not, in this way, act directly 
on the quantity of bank paper issued for circulation ? Do we not 
keep the issues of paper nearer to the real wants of society ? This 
view of the case might be pressed and amplified. There is much 
in it, if I am not mistaken. For the present, I only suggest it ; 
but he who shall consider the subject longest, and deepest, will be 
most thoroughly convinced that, in this respect, as well as others, 
the abolition of preference to endorsers will act beneficially to the 
public. 

The immediate motion before the Senate, Mr. President, does 
not justify a further extension of my observations on this part of the 
case. My object has been to prove that this bill is not one-sided, 
is not a bill for debtors only, but is, what it ought to be, a bill 
making just, honest, and reasonable provisions for the distribution 
of the effects of insolvents among their creditors ; and that the vol- 
untary part of the bill alone secures all these principal objects, 
because, in the great and overruling motive of obtaining a discharge, 
it holds out an object to debtors, who know themselves to be insol- 
vent, to stop, to stop seasonably, to assign honestly, and to conform, 
in good faith, to all the provisions intended for the security of their 
creditors. 



SPEECH 



DELIVERED AT THE GREAT MASS-MEETING AT SARATOGA, 
NEW YORK, AUGUST 19, 1840. 



We are, my friends, in the midst of a great movement of tlie 
people. That a revolution in public sentiment on some important 
questions of public policy has begun, and is in progress, it is vain 
to attempt to conceal, and folly to deny. What will be the extent 
of this revolution — what its immediate effects upon political men 
and political measures — what ultimate influence it may have on 
the integrity of the Constitution, and the permanent prosperity of 
the country, remains to be seen. Meantime, no one can deny that 
an extraordinary excitement exists in the country, such as has not 
been witnessed for more than half a century — not local, nor con- 
fined to any two or three, or ten States, but pervading the whole, 
from North to South, and from East to West, with equal force and 
intensity. For an effect so general, a cause of equal extent must 
exist. No cause, local or partial, can produce consequences so 
general and universal. In some parts of the country, indeed, local 
causes may in some degree add to the flame; but no local cause, 
nor any number of local causes, can account for the general excited 
state of the public mind. 

In portions of the country devoted to agriculture and manufac- 
tures, we hear complaints of want of market and of low prices. 
Yet there are other portions of the country which are consumers, 
and not producers, of food and manufactures ; and, as purchasers, 
they should, it would seem, be satisfied with the low prices of 
which the sellers complain ; but in these portions, too, of the 
country, there is dissatisfiction and discontent. Every where, 
there is complaining and a desire for change. 

There are those who think this excitement among the people 
transitory and evanescent. I am not of that opinion. So far as I 
can judge, attention to public affairs among the people of the Uni- 
ted States has increased, is increasing, and is not likely to be di- 
minished ; and this not in one part of the country, but all over it. 
This certainly is the fact, if we may judge from recent information. 
The breeze of popular excitement is blowing every where. It fans 
the air in Alabama and the Carolinas ; and I am of opinion, that 

472 



473 

when it shall cross the Potomac, and range along the northern AUe- 
ghanies, it will grow stronger and stronger, until, mingling with the 
gales of the Empire State, and the mountain blasts of New Eng- 
land, it will blow a perfect hurricane. 

There are those, again, who think these vast popular meetings 
are got up by effort ; but I say that no effort could get them up, 
and no effort can keep them down. There must, then, be some 
general cause that animates the whole country. What is that 
cause ? It is upon this point I propose to give my opinion to-day. 
1 have no design to offend the feelings of any, but 1 mean in per- 
fect plainness to express my views to the vast multitude assembled 
around. I know there are among them many who from first to last 
supported General Jackson. I know there are many who, if con- 
science and patriotism had permitted, would support his successor; 
and I should ill repay the attention with which they may honor me 
by any reviling or denunciation. Again, I come to play no part 
of oratory before you. If there have been times and occasions in 
my life when I might be supposed anxious to exhibit myself in such 
a light, that period has passed, and this is not one of the occasions. 
I come to dictate and prescribe to no man. If my experience, not 
now short, in the affairs of government, entitle my opinions to any 
respect, those opinions are at the service of my fellow-citizens. 
What I shall state as facts, I hold myself and my character respon- 
sible for ; what I shall state as opinions, all are alike at liberty to 
reject or to receive. I ask such consideration for them only as 
the fairness and sincerity with which they are uttered may claim. 

What, then, has excited the whole land, from Maine to Georgia, 
and gives us assurance that while we are meeting here in New 
York in such vast numbers, other like meetings are holding through- 
out all the States ? That this cause must be general, is certain, 
for it agitates the whole country, and not parts only. 

When that fluid in the human system indispensable to life 
becomes disordered, corrupted, or obstructed in its circulation, 
not the head or the heart alone suffers, but the whole body — head, 
heart, and hand, all the members, and all the extremities — is af- 
fected with debility, paralysis, numbness, and death. The analogy 
between the human system and the social and political system, is 
complete ; and what the life-blood is to the former, circulation, 
money, cuiTency, is to the latter ; and if that be disordered or cor- 
rupted, paralysis must fall on the system. 

The original, leading, main cause, then, of all our difficulties and 
disasters, is the disordered state of the circulation. This is, per- 
haps, not a perfectly obvious truth ; and yet it is one susceptible of 
easy demonstration. In order to explain this the more readily, I 
wish to bring your minds to the consideration of the internal con- 
dition, and the vast domestic trade, of the United States. Our 
VOL, HI. 60 i^N* 



474 

country is not a small province or canton, but an empire, extending 
over a large and diversified surface, with a population of various 
conditions and pursuits. It is in this variety that consists its pros- 
perity ; for the different parts become useful one to the other, not 
by identity, but by difference, of production, and thus each by in- 
terchange contributes to the interest of the other. Hence, our in- 
ternal trade — that which carries on this exchange of the products 
and industry of the difTerent portions of the United States — is one 
of our most important, I had almost said, the most important inter- 
est. Its operations are easy and silent, not always perceptible, but 
diffusing health and life throughout the system by the intercourse 
thus promoted from neighborhood to neighborhood, and from State 
to State. 

Let me explain this a little in detail. You are here in a grain- 
growing State. Your interest, then, is to have consumers, not 
growers of grain. The hands that, in that broad belt which 
stretches across the countiy, in which grain best succeeds, grow 
wheat, are interested to find mouths elsewhere to consume what 
they raise. The manufacturers of the North and East need the 
grain of the Middle States, and the cotton of the South, and these in 
turn buy the manufactures of the East. Nor is this solely matter 
of interest, but is in some degree brought about by the regulations 
of foreign governments. Our manufactures find no sale in Europe ; 
and much of our grain is, under ordinary circumstances, excluded 
from its markets. In France it is never admitted, and in England 
contingently and uncertainly only, and in a manner to tantalize 
rather than gratify the American husbandman. 

The internal trade, moreover, moves as it were in a circle, and 
not directly : the great imports of the country are made in New 
York, whence they pass to the South and to the West ; but our 
exports are not mainly from New York, but from the South : the 
main imports, then, are made at one corner of the Union, and the 
exports from another. The same thing is true of other branches 
of trade. The produce of Ohio, much of it, descends the river to 
New Orleans ; but Ohio is supplied with foreign commodities and 
domestic fabrics mainly through the New York Canals, the Lakes, 
and the Ohio Canal. The live stock of Kentucky goes to the 
Carolinas ; but Kentucky buys nothing there, but transmits the 
money to Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York, and in those 
cities procures what she wants, to be sent to her across the Al- 
leghanies. 

This circuit of trade, in a country of such great extent as ours, 
demands, more than in any country under heaven, a uniform cur- 
rency for the whole people ; that what is money in Carolina shall 
be so elsewhere ; that what the Kentucky drover receives, what 
the planter of Alabama sells for, what the laborer in New York 



475 

gets in pay for his work, and carries home to support his family, 
shall be of ascertained and unifonn value. 

This is not the time nor the occasion for an essay or dissertation 
on money ; but I mean distinctly to express the opinion, that 
until the General Government shall take in hand the cuiTency of 
the country, until that Government- shall devise some means — I 
say not what — of raising the whole currency to the level of gold 
and silver, there can be no prosperity. 

Let us retrace briefly the history of the currency question in this 
country — a most important branch of the commercial question. 
I appeal to all who have studied the history of the times, and of 
the Constitution, whether our fathers, in fran)ing the Constitution 
which should unite us in common rights and a common glory, had 
not also, among their chief objects, to provide a uniform system of 
commerce, including a uniform system of cuirency, for the whole 
countr}\ I especially invite the ingenuous youth of the country 
to go back to the history of those times, and particularly to the 
Virginia resolutions of 17S6, and to the proceedings of the con- 
vention at Annapolis — and they will there find the prevailing 
argument for forming a General Government, was, to secure a 
uniform system of commerce, of custom-house duties, and a general 
regulation of the trade, external and internal, of the whole country. 
It was no longer to be the commerce of New York, or of Massa- 
chusetts, but of the United States, to be carried on under that star- 
spangled banner, which was to bear, and into every sea, the glorious 
motto E Pluribus Unum. 

This being a chief and cherished object, when the first Congress 
under the Constitution assembled in New York, General Wash- 
ington, in his speech, naturally drew its attention to the necessity 
of a uniform currency, looking, probably, at that time, to the mint 
first established in Philadelphia, to provide that currency. 

What I wish to say is, that the difference in the currencies of 
the several States, and the want of a uniform system, both of com- 
merce and currency, being among the chief inconveniences to 
be remedied by the establishment of the Constitution, the subject 
very naturally and properly attracted the early attention of the 
President, at the first session of the first Congress. 

At the second session, the United States Bank was established. 
Without detaining you by quoting papers or speeches of that day, 
I will simply refer any one, curious to inquire, to the oftlcial doc- 
uments of the time, and to the contemporaneous expressions of pub- 
lic opinion on the leading measures of that day, for proof that, 
while one object of incorporating a National Bank was, that it 
might occasionally make loans to Government, and take charge of 
the disbursement of its revenues, another object, quite as prominent 
and important, was to furnish a circulation — a paper circulation 



476 

— founded on national resources, that should be current all over 
the country. General Washington had the sagacity to see, what, 
indeed, minds less sagacious than his could not fail to perceive, 
that the confidence reposed in the United States under the Consti- 
tution, would impart to whatever came from Congress more au- 
thority and value, than could attach to any thing emanating from 
any single State. 

The assumption by Congress of the State debts illustrates this 
remark ; for the moment the United States became bound for those 
debts, and proceeded to fund them, they rose enoi-mously and 
rapidly in value. 

General Washington and his advisers saw that a mixed cur- 
rency, if the paper had the mark of the Union, and bore on it the 
spread eagle, would command universal confidence throughout 
the country ; and the result proved the wisdom of their foresight. 
From the incorporation of the Bank to the expiration of its charter, 
embracing a period of great commercial and political vicissitudes, 
the currency of that Bank was never objected to : it, indeed, 
surpassed the hopes and equalled the desires of every body. The 
charter expired in 1811 — how, or why, or from what state of 
parties, it is not my purpose to discuss — but the charter was not 
renewed. War with England was declared in June, 1812. Im- 
mediately upon the declaration of war, all the Banks south of New 
England stopped payment, and those of New England ceased to 
issue. notes; and thus, in fact, the specie paying in those States, 
amounted to little or nothing. At the close of the war, the con- 
dition of the currency, which had become very much deranged, 
not improving, Mr. Madison presented the subject to Congress. 
In his messages, both in 1814 and 1815, he dwelt earnestly on 
the subject; and in 1816 the second Bank of the United States 
was incorporated, and went at once into operation. At its outset, 
owing possibly to mismanagement — perhaps unavoidably — the 
Bank met with heavy losses ; but it fulfilled its functions in pro- 
viding a currency for the whole country ; and, neither during the 
eight yeai-s of President Monroe's administration, nor the four 
years of President Adams's, were any complaints on that score 
heard. And now I desire to call attention to a particular fact. 
There were several candidates for the Presidency to succeed Mr. 
Monroe — General Jackson, Mr. Adams, Mr. Crawford, and Mr. 
Clay. None of them received a sufficient number of votes from 
the electors to be chosen President. General Jackson received 
the largest number of any ; but the House of Representatives 
chose John Quincy Adantis President. From that moment a fierce 
opposition was commenced against Mr. Adams's administration. 
I do not propose to discuss the character or conduct of this op- 
position. The fact of its existence is all that I have to do with 



477 

now, and to remind you that, from the inauguration, in March, 
1825, to March, 18-29, an opposition, diritinguisiicd for its remark- 
ahie abihty, perseverance, and ukimate success, was carried on 
uudcr the name and flag of General Jackson. 

All other candidates had disappeared. General Jackson was the 
sole opponent ; and four years of active, angry political contro- 
versy ensued — during which, every topic of complaint that could 
be dragged into the vortex, was dragged in; and yet — I beg 
special attention to this fact — not once, during this four years' 
controversy, did General Jackson himself, or any press in his 
interest, or any of his friends in Congress or elsewhere, raise a 
single voice against the condition of the currency, or propose any 
change therein. Of the hundreds here, possibly, who supported 
Jackson, not one dreamed that he was elected to put down es- 
tablished institutions, and overthrow the currency of the country. 
Who, among all those that, in the honest convictions of their hearts, 
cried, Hurrah for Jackson ! believed, or expected, or desired, that he 
would interfere with the Bank of the United States, or destroy the 
circulating medium of the country. [Here there arose a cry from 
the crowd, " None ! none! "] 1 stand here upon the fact, and defy 
contradiction from any quarter, that there v^as no complaint, then, 
any where, of the Bank. There never was, before, a country of 
equal extent, where exchanges and circulation were carried on so 
cheaply, so conveniently, and so securely. General Jackson was 
inaugurated in IMarch, 1829, and pronounced an address upon that 
occasion, which I heard, as I did the oath he look to support the 
Constitution. In that address were enumerated various objects, 
-requiring, as he said. Reform ; but among them was not the IBank 
of the United States, nor the currency. This was in March, 
1829. In December, 1829, General Jackson came out with the 
declaration (than which, none I have ever heard surprised me 
more) that " the constitutionality of the Bank of the United States 
might be well questioned," and that it had failed to furnish a sound 
and uniform currency to the country. 

What produced this change of views ? Down to March of the 
same year, nothing of this sort was indicated or threatened. What, 
then, induced the change? [A voice from the crowd said, "Martiti 
Van Burcn.'''] If that be so, [immediately rejoined Mr. Webster,] 
it was the production of mighty consequences by a cause not at all 
proportioned. I will state, in connection with, and in elucidation 
of, this subject, certain transactions, which constitute one of those 
contingences in human affairs, in which casual circumstances, act- 
ing upon the peculiar temper and character of a man of very de- 
cided temper and character, affect the fate of nations. A move- 
ment was made in the summer of 1829, in order to effect a change 
in certain officers of the Branch of the Bank of the United States 



478 

in Portsmouth, N. H. Mr. Woodbury, then a Senator from New 
Hampshire, transmitted to the President of the Bank at Philadel- 
phia, a request, purporting to proceed from merchants and men of 
business of all parties, asking the removal of the President of that 
Branch, not on political grounds, but as acceptable and advantage- 
ous to the business community. At the same time, Mr. Woodbury 
addressed a letter to the then Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Ing- 
ham, suggesting that his Department should, on political grounds, 
obtain from the Mother Bank the > removal of the Branch Presi- 
dent. This letter was transmitted to the President of the Mother 
Bank, and reached him about the same time as the other; so that, 
looking upon this picture and upon that, upon one letter that urged 
the removal on political grounds, and on the other that denied that 
poHtical considerations entered into the matter at all, he concluded 
to let things remain as they were. Appeals were then artfully 
made to the President of the United States. His feelings were en- 
listed, and it is well known that, when he had an object in view, 
his character was to go ahead. I mean to speak no evil nor dis- 
respect of General Jackson. He has passed off the stage to his 
retirement at the Hermitage, which it would be as well, perhaps, 
that friends should not disturb, and where I sincerely wish he may, 
in tranquillity, pass the residue of his days. But General Jackson's 
character was imperious — he took the back track never; and 
however his friends might differ, or whether they concurred or dis- 
sented, they were fain always to submit. General Jackson then 
put forth the pretension that appointments by the Bank should 
have regard to the wishes of the Treasury ; the matter was for- 
mally submitted to the Directors of the Bank, and they as formally 
determined that the Treasury could not rightfully or properly have 
any thing to say in the matter. A long and somewhat angry cor- 
respondence ensued ; for General Jackson found, in the President 
of the Bank, a man who had something of a spice of his own 
quality. The result was, that the Bank resisted, and refused the 
required acquiescence in the dictations of the Treasury. 

This happened in the summer and autumn of 1829, and in De- 
cember we had the message, in which, for the first time, the Bank 
was arraigned and denounced. Then came the application of the 
Bank for re-incorporation, the passage of a bill for that purpose 
through both Houses, and the President's Veto on it. The Bank 
of the United States being thus put down, a multitude of new 
State Banks sprang up : and next came a law, adopting some of 
these as Deposit Banks. Now, what I have to say in regard to 
General Jackson in this matter, is this : he said he could establish a 
better currency ; and, whether successful or not in this, it is at 
least to be said in his favor and praise, that he never did renounce 
the obligation of the Federal Government to take care of the 



479 

currency — paper as well as metallic — of the people. It was in 
furtherance of this duty, which he felt called on to discharge, of 
" providing a better currency," that he recommended the exclusion 
of small bills. Why? Because, as it was argued, it would improve 
the general mixed currency of the country ; and, although he did 
not, as distinctly as Mr. Madison, admit and urge the duty of the 
Federal Government to provide a currency for the people, he never 
renounced if, but, on the contrary, in his message of December, 
1835, holds this explicit language: — 

"By the use of the State Banks, which do not derive their charters from 
the General Government, and are not controlled by its authority, it is ascer- 
tained that the moneys of the United States can be collected and distributed 
without loss or inconvenience, and that all the wants of the community, in 
relation to exchange atul currency, are s^tpplied as well as they have ever been 
before." — [Message, Dec. 2, 1835.] 

It is not here a question whether these Banks did, or not, effect 
the purpose which General Jackson takes so much praise to him- 
self of accomplishing through their agency — that of supplying the 
country with as good a currency as it ever enjoyed. But why, 
if this was not a duty of the Federal Government, is it mentioned 
at all ? In his last message, in December, 1836, reviewing the 
benefits ! of his experiments on the cun'ency, he thus speaks: — 

" At tJie time of the removal of the deposit!, it was alleged by the advo- 
cates of the Bank of the United States, that the State Banks, whatever 
might be the regulations of the Treasury Department, could not make tlie 
transfers required by the Government, or negotiate the domestic exchanges 
of the country. It is now well ascertained that the real domcMic exchanges per- 
formed through discounts by the United States Bank and its twenty-five 
Branches, were one third less than those of the Deposit Banks for an equal 
period of time ; and if a compaiison be instituted between the arnounis of ser- 
vices rendered by these institutions, on the broader basis which has been used by 
tlie advocates of the United States Bank^ in estinutting what they consider the 
domestic exchanges, the resvlt will be still more favorable to the Deposit 
Banlis." 

Here we have the distinct assertion, that, through the State Banks, 
he had accomplished more in establishing a good currency and 
easy exchanges, than had been done by the Bank of the United 
States. However this fact may be, all this, I say, amounts to ac- 
knowledgment of the duty of the General Government, and as a 
natural consequence of the power to coin money and regulate 
commerce, to take a supervision over that paper currency which 
is to supply the place of coin. 

I contend for this truth, that, down to the end of General Jack- 
son's administration, no administration of this country had turned 
their back upon this power ; and I now proceed to show, by ex- 
tracts from Mr. Van Buren's letter to Sherrod Williams, to which, 



480 

Since he has largely referred to it lately, there can be no unfitness 
in my referring, that he, too, admitted the obligation of supplying 
a uniform currency and convenient medium of exchange, which he 
thought could be effected by the State Deposit Banks. 

" Sincerely believing, for the reasons which have just been stated, that 
the public funds may be as safely and conveniently transmitted from one 
portion of the Union to another ; that domestic exchange can be as suc- 
cessfully and as cheaply eftected, and the currency be rendered at least as 
sound, under the existinor system, as those objects could be accomplished 
by means of a National Bank, I would not seek a remedy for the evils to 
which you allude, should they unfortunately occur, through such a medium, 
even if the constitutional objections were not in the way." — [Aug. 8, 
1836.] 

He denies not the duty of superintending the currency, but 
thinks the Deposit Banks of the States, under the control of Con- 
gress, can effect the purpose. This letter was written when Mr. 
Van Buren was a candidate for the Presidency. 

Two months only after General Jackson had retired, and when 
his vigorous hand was no longer there to uphold it, the league of 
State Banks fell, and crumbled into atoms ; and when Mr. Van 
Buren had been only two months President, he convoked a special 
session of Congress for the ensuing September. The country was 
in wide-spread confusion — paralyzed in its commerce — its cur- 
rency utterly deranged. What was to be done ? What would 
Mr. Van Buren recommend ? He could not go back to the Bank 
of the United States, for he had committed himself against its con- 
stitutionality ; nor could he, witli any great prospect of success, 
undertake to reconstruct the league of Deposit Banks ; for it had 
recently failed, and the country had lost confidence in it. What, 
then, was to be done ? He could go neither backward nor forward. 
What did he do ? I mean not to speak disrespectfully, but I say, 
he — escaped! Afraid to touch the fragments of the broken Banks 
— unable to touch the Unhed States Bank — he folded up his 
arms, and said, — The Government has nothing to do with provi- 
ding a currency for the people. That I may do him no wrong, I 
will read his own language. His predecessors had all said. We will 
not turn our backs upon this duty of Government to provide a uni- 
form currency ; his language is. We ivill turn our backs on this 
duty. He proposes nothing for the country, nothing for the relief 
of commerce, or the regulation of exchanges, but simply the means 
of getting money into the Treasury without loss. 



From Mr. Fan Bureri's First Message. 

"It is not the province of Government to aid mdividuals in the transfer 
of their funds, otherwise than through the facilities of the Post Office De- 



481 

partment. As justly might it be called on to provide for tlie transportation 
of tlieir merchandise." **##**«## 
"If, therefore, I refrain from suggesting to Congress any specific plan 
for regulating the exchanges or the currency — relieving mercantile em- 
barrassments — or interfering with the ordinary operations of foreign or 
domestic commerce, it is from a conviction that sucji are not within the 
constitutional province of the General Government, and that their adoption 
would not promote the real and permanent welfare of those they might be 
designed to aid." 

I put it to you, my friends, if this is a statesman's argu- 
ment. You can transport your merchandise yourselves; you can 
build ships, and make your own wagons ; but can you make a 
currency ? Can you say what shall be money, and what shall not 
be money ? and determine its value here and elsewhere ? Why, 
it would be as reasonable to say, the people may make war for 
themselves, and peace for themselves, as to say that they may 
exercise this other not less exclusive attribute of sovereignty, of 
making a currency for themselves. He insists that Congress has 
no power to regulate currency or exchanges — none to mitigate the 
embarrassments of the country — none to relieve its prostrate in- 
dustry — and even if the power did exist, it would be unwise, in 
his opinion, to exercise it! 

These are the doctrines of the President's first message ; and I 
have no opinion of it now, that I did not then entertain, and then 
express. I desire not to appear wise after the event — 1 am not a 
prophet, nor the son of a prophet, and yet I declare that when I 
heard the declarations of this message, and reflected on its conse- 
quences, I saw, or thought I saw, all of suffering, loss, and evil, that 
is now before us. 

Let us compare this declaration with that of one now numbered 
with the mighty dead — of one who has left behind a reputation 
excelled by that of no other man, as understanding thoroughly the 
Constitution — of one born and cradled with it, taking part in its 
inception, and closing his public career by administering its high- 
est office — I need not name James Madison. 

In his message to Congress, in December, 1815, — when the 
war had closed, and the country was laboring under the disordered 
currency of that period, — the President thus spoke : — 

" ft is essential to every modification of the finances, that the benefits of 
a uniform national currency should be restored to the conununity. The 
absence of the precious metals will, it is believed, be a temporary evil ; hvt 
until they can a^ain he rerulercd the freneral medmm of exchan<re, it devolves 
on the wisdom of Coirirress to provide a suhslitute, tvhich shall equally engage 
the confidence and accommodate the wanls of the citizens throvghoid the Union. 
]f the operation of the State Bavks cannot produce this residt, the probable 
operation of a JYatioiud Bank urill merit consideration" &c. 

VOL. III. 61 



482 

At that session, Congress incorporated the Bank of the United 
States; and at the next session, the President held this language, 
respecting the currency and that Bank : — 

From Mr. Madisori's Last Message. 

"For the interests of the community at large, as well as for the purpose*- 
of the Treasury, it is essential that the nation should possess a currency 
of equal value, credit, and use, wherever it may circulate. The Constitu- 
tion has intrusted Congress, exclusively, with the power of creating and 
regulating a currency of that description ; and the measures taken, during 
the last session, in execution of the power, give every promise of success. 
The Bank of the United States has been organized under auspices the most 
favorable, and cannot fail to be an important auxiliary to those measures." 

How that sounds now as an argument for the Sub-Treasury ! 
Now, the administration has set up a doctrine vitally affecting the 
business and pursuits of the country, fatal to your families; and you 
must determine for yourselves if it shall be the doctrine of the 
country. But, before determining, look well at the Constitution — 
weigh all precedent — and if names and authority are to be ap- 
pealed to, contrast those of President Van Buren with those of the 
dead Patriarch, whose words 1 have just read to you, and decide 
accordingly. 

We have heard much from the administration against Banks and 
banking systems. I do not mean to discuss that topic ; but I will 
say, that their tampering with the currency, and their course m re- 
lation to h, has, more than all other causes, increased these Banks. 

But Mr. Van Buren's message contains a fatal principle, — one 
altot^ether wrong, — the principle that the Government has nothing 
to do Vk'ilh providing a currency for the country ; in other words, pro- 
posinn^ a separation between the money of the Government and the 
money of the people. This is the great error — which cannot be com- 
promised with — which is susceptible of no amelioration, or mod- 
ification, or remedy, but the caustic which shall totally eradicate it. 

Do we not know that there must always be bank paper? Is 
there a man here who expects that he, or his children, or his chil- 
dren's children, shall see the day when only gold coin, ghttering 
through silk purses, will be the currency of the country, to the en- 
tire exclusion of bank notes ? Not one. But it is the neglect of 
Government to perform hs duties that makes these bank notes 
questionable. You here, in New York, have sound bank paper, re- 
deemable in coin ; and if you were surrounded by a Chinese wall, 
it mio-ht be indifferent to you whether Government looked after the 
currency or not elsewhere. But you have daily business relations 
with Pennsylvania, and with the West, and East, and South, and 
you have a direct interest that their currency too shall be sound ; 



483 

-for otherwise the verj' superiority of yours is, to a certain degree, 
an injury and loss to you — since you pay in the equivalent of 
specie for what you buy, and you sell for such money as may circulate 
in the States with which you deal. But New York cannot effect 
the general restoration of the currency, nor any one State, or any 
number of States short of the whole — and hence the duty of the 
General Government to superintend this interest. 

But what does the Sub-Treasury propose? Its basis is a sep- 
aration of the concerns of the Treasury from those of the people. 
Tlie law creating it provides, 

That there shall be provided in the New Treasury building at 
Washington, rooms for the use of the Treasurer, and fire-proof 
vaults and safes for the keeping of the public nxjneys ; and these 
vaults and safes are declared to be the Treasury of the United States. 

That tiie vaults and safes of the iNIint in Philadelphia and the 
Brancli Mint at New Orleans, shall also be places for the deposit 
and safe-keeping of the public moneys ; and that there shall be fire- 
proof vaults and safes also in the Custom Houses of New York 
and Boston, and in Charleston, South Carolina, and St. Louis, Mis- 
souri, and that these also shall be places of deposit. 

That there shall be a Receiver-Gemral at New York, Bos- 
ton, Charleston, and St. Louis. That the Treasurers of these 
Mints, and the Receivers-General, shall keep the public money 
without loaniuii or using it, until ordered to be paid out ; and into 
the hands of these Treasurers and Receivers-General, all collectors 
of public money are to pay what they receive. 

Tliat the resolutions of Congress of April, 1816, be so far altered 
as that hereafter, of all duties, taxes, and debts due and becoming 
due to tlie United States, after June of this year, one fourth shall 
be paid in specie ; after June of next year, one half ; after June 
of 1842, three fourths ] and after June, 1843, the whole. So that 
after June, 1843, all debts due the United States, whether for du- 
ties, taxes, sales of public lands, patents, postages of letters, or 
othepvvise., " shall be paid in gold and silver only." 

That frotn and after June, 1843, every officer or agent in the 
Government, in making disbursements or payments on account of 
the United States, shall make such payments in gold and silver 
coin only. 

The Receiver-General in New York to be paid ^4,000 salary 
— the others, each, j^* -2,500. 

I propose to say a few words on these provisions. In the first 
place, it seems very awkward to declare by law certain rooms in 
Washington, and certain safes and vaults therein, the Treasury of 
the United States. We have been accustomed heretofore to look 
upon the Treasury as a department of the Government, recognized 
hy the Constitution, wliich declares that no money shall be drawn 



484 

from the Treasury, but in consequence of appropriations made by 
law. It may, however, be made a question whether any thing but 
these rooms and safes at Washington are now within this protection 
of the Constitution. It is senseless. It is absurd. It is as if the 
Legislature of J\e\v York should declare that a certain large room, 
in the United States Hotel, and certain desks and tables therein, 
should constitute the Court for the Correction of Errors of the 
State of New York.* 

What else does this bill do ? It declares there shall be certain 
vaults, and safes, and rooms. But it has not been for want of 
adequate vaults and rooms that we have lost our money, but 
owing to the hands to which we have trusted the keys. It is in 
the character of the officers, and not in the strength of bars and 
vaults, that we must look for security of the public treasure. 
What would be thought in private life, if some rich merchant, 
J. J. Astor, for instance, should determine no longer to trust his 
money with Banks and Bank directors, who, nevertheless, have a 
common interest with him in upholding the credit and stability of 
the currency, and in the safe-keeping, too, of their own money, 
and should build for himself certain safes and vaults, and, having 
placed his treasures therein, should, of some forty or fifty hungry 
individuals, who might apply for the office of treasurer, give the 
keys to him who would work the cheapest ? You might not, per- 
haps, pronounce him insane, but you would certainly say, he acted 
very unlike J. J. Astor. Now, what is true of private affairs is 
equally true of public affairs ; and what would be absurd in an in- 
dividual is not less so in a government. What is doing in Boston, 
where I belong ? There are Banks, respectable, specie-paying, trust- 
worthy Banks, managed by prudent and discreet men — and yet 
the treasure of the country is withdrawn from the keeping of one 
of those institutions, with a capital paid in of two millions of dollars, 
and locked up in safes and vaults, and one of the President's polit- 
ical friends from another State is sent for to come and keep the 
key. There is, in this case, no president to watch the cashier, no 
cashier to watch the teller, and no directors to overlook and con- 
trol all ; but the whole responsibility is vested in one man. Do 
you believe that, if, under such circumstances, the United States, 
following the example of individuals, were to offer to receive pri- 
vate funds in deposit in such a safe, and allow interest on them, 
they would be intrusted with any ? There are no securities under 
this new system of keeping the public moneys that we had not 
before ; while many that did exist, in the personal character, high 



* It may be necessary, to the explanation of this illustration, to state, that 
the Court of Errors was at the time holding a session at the United States 
Hotel at Saratoga. 



485 

trusts, and diversified duties, of the officers and directors of Banks, 
are removed. IMoreover, the number of receiving and disbursing 
officers is increased ; and in proportion is the danger to the pubhc 
treasure increased. 

The next provision is, that money once received i-nto the 
Treasury is not to be loaned out ; and if this law is to be the law 
of the land, this provision is not to be complained of, for dangerous 
indeed would be the temptation, and pernicious the consequences, 
if these treasurers were to be left at liberty to ban out to favorites 
and party associates the moneys drawn from the people. Yet 
the practice of this Government hitherto has always been opposed 
to this policy of Jocldng up the money of the people when and 
while it is not required for die public service. Until this time the 
public dejx)sits, like private <leposits, were used by the Banks in 
which they were placed, as some compensation for the trouble of 
safe-keeping, and in furtherance of the general convenience. When, 
in 1833, General Jackson formed the league of the Deix)sit State 
Banks, they were specially directed by Mr. Taney, then Secretary 
of the Treasury, to use the public funds in discounts for the ac- 
commodation of the business of the country. And why should 
this not be so ? The President now says, if the money is kept in 
Banks, it will be used by them in discounts, and they will derive 
benefit therefrom. What then ? Is it a sufficient reason for de- 
priving the community of a beneficial measure, that the Banks that 
carry it out will also measurably derive some benefit fmm it ? The 
question is. Will the public be benefited ? and if this be answered 
affirmatively, it is no bar that the Banks will be too. The Govern- 
ment is not to play the part of the dog in the manger. The doc- 
trine is altogether pernicious, opposed to our experience, and to the 
habits and business of the nation. 

The next provision is that requiring, after 1843, all dues to the 
Government to be paid in gold and silver ; and liowever onerous 
or injurious this provision, it is to be conceded that the Government 
can, if they choose, enforce it. They have the power ; and, as 
good citizens, we must submit. But such a practice will be in- 
convenient, I will say, oppressive. How are those who occupy 
three fourths of the surface of the United States to comply with this 
provision ? Here, in commercial neighborhoods, and in large cities, 
and wliere the Banks pay specie, the difficulty v,ill be less ; but 
where is the man who is to take up lands in the Western States 
to get specie ? How transjwrt it ? The Banks around him pay 
none — he gets none for his labor. And yet, oppressive as all this 
is, I admit that the Government have a right to pass such a law ; 
that, while it is a law, it must be obeyed. 

But what are we promised as the equivalent for all this incon- 
venience and oppression ? Why, tliat the Government, in its turn, 



CO 



486 

will pay its debts in specie — and that thus what it receives with 
one hand, it will pay out with the other — and a metallic circula- 
tion will be established. I undertake to say that no greater fal- 
lacy than this was ever uttered ; the thing is impossible, and for 
this plain reason : The dues which the Government collects come 
from individuals ; each pays for himself. But it is far otherwise 
with the disbursements of Government. They do not go down to 
individuals, and, seeking out the workmen and the laborers, pay to 
each his dues. Government pays in large sums, to large contract- 
ors — and to these it may pay gold and silver. But do the 
gold and silver reach those whom the contractor employs ? On 
the contrary, the contractors deal as they see fit with those whom 
they employ, or of whom they purchase. The Army and the 
Navy are fed and clothed by contract ; the materials for expensive 
Custom Houses, Fortifications, for the Cumberland Road, and for 
other public works, are all supplied by contract. Large contract- 
ors flock to Washington, and receive their tons of gold and silver; 
but do they carry it with them to Maine, Mississippi, Michigan, or 
wherever their residence and vocation may be ? No — not a dol- 
lar ; but, selling it for depreciated paper, the contractor swells his 
previous profits by this added premium, and pays off those he owes 
in depreciated bank notes. This is not an imaginary case. I 
speak of what is in proof. A contractor came to Washington last 
winter, and received a draft of ^'180,000 on a specie-paying Bank 
in New York. This he sold at 10 per cent, premium, and widi 
the avails purchased funds in the west, with which he paid the 
producer, the farmer, the laborer. This is the operation of specie 
payments. It gives to the Government hard money, to the rich 
contractor hard money ; but to the producer and the laborer it gives 
paper, and bad paper only ; and yet this system is recommended 
as specially favoring the poor man, rather than the rich, and credit 
is claimed for this administration as the poor man's friend. Let 
us look a little more nearly at this matter, and see whom, in truth, 
it does favor. Who are the rich in this country ? There is very 
little hereditary wealth among us ; and large capitalists are not 
numerous. But some there are, nevertheless, who live upon the 
interest of their money ; and these, certainly, do not suffer by this 
new doctrine ; for their revenues are rendered more valuable, while 
the means of living are reduced in value. There is the money- 
lender, too, who suffers not by the reduction of prices all around 
him. Who else are the rich in this country ? Why, the holders 
of office. He who has a fixed salary of from $2,500 to .'l 5,000, 
finds prices falling ; but does his salary fall ? On the contrary, 
three fourths of that salary will now purchase more than the whole 
of it would purchase before ; and he, therefore, is not dissatisfied 
with this new state of things. 



4S7 

There is, too, another class of our fellow-cltlzens, weahhy men, 
who have prospered diuing the last year; and they have pros- 
pered when nobody else has. I mean the owners of shipping. 
What is the reason ? Give me a reason. Well, I will give you 
one. The shipping of the country carries on the trade — the 
larger vessels being chiefly in the foreign trade. Now, why have 
these been successful ? I will answer by an example. I live on 
the sea-coast of New England, and one of my nearest neighbors is 
tlie largest ship-owner, probably, in the United States. During 
the past year, he has made what might suffice for two or three for- 
tunes for moderate men ; and how has he made it ? He sends his 
ships to Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, to take freights of cotton. 
This staple, whatever may be the price abroad, cannot be suffered 
to rot at home ; and therefore it is shipped. My friend tells his 
captain to provision his ship at Natchez, for instance, where he buys 
flour and stores in the depreciated currency of that region, and 
pays for them by a bill on Boston, which he sells at 48 per cent, 
premium ! Here, at once, it will be seen, he gets his provision for 
half price, because prices do not always rise suddenly, as money 
depreciates. He dehvers his freight in Europe, and gets paid for it 
in good money. The disordered currency of the country to which 
he belongs does not follow and afflict him abroad. He sets his 
freight m good money, places it in the hands of his owner's banker, 
who again draws at a premium for it. The ship-owner, then, 
makes money, when all others are suffering, because he can escape 
from the inftiience of the bad latvs and bad currency of his own 
country. Now, I will contrast the story of this neighbor with that 
of another of my neighbors, not rich. He is a New England me- 
chanic, hard-working, sober, and intelligent — a tool-maker by 
trade, who wields his own sledge-hammer. His particular busi- 
ness is the making of augers for the South and South-West. He 
has for years employed many hands, and been the support thereby 
of many families around him — himself, meanwhile, moderately 
prosperous until these evil times came on. Annually, however, for 
some years, he has been going backwards. Not less industrious, 
not less frugal, he has yet found, that however apparently good the 
prices he might receive at the Soudi and South-West for his tools, 
the cost of converting his Southern or Western funds into money cur- 
rent in New England was ruinous. He has persevered, however, al- 
ways hoping for some change for the better, and contracting gradu- 
ally the circle of his work and the number of his workmen, until, 
at length, the little earnings of the past wasted, and the condition of 
the cijrrency becoming worse and worse, he is reduced to bank- 
ruptcy ; and he, and the twenty families that he had supported, are 
beggared by no fault of their own. What was his difficulty ? He 
could not escape from the evils of bad laws and bad currency at 



488 

lK>me ; and while his rich neighbor, who could, and did, is made 
richer by these very causes, he, the honest and industrious me- 
chanic, is crushed to the earth ; and yet, we are told, this is a sys- 
tem for promoting the interests of the poor 1 

Tiiis leads me naturally to the great subject of American labor, 
which has hardly been considered or discussed as carefully as it 
deserves. What is American labor? It is best described by say- 
ing, it is not European labor. Nine tenths of the whole labor of 
this country is performed by those who cultivate the land they or 
their fathers own, or who, in their workshops, employ some little 
capital of their own, and mix it up with their manual toil. No 
such thing exists in other countries. Look at the different de- 
partments of industry, whether agricultural, manufacturing, or 
mechanical, and you will find, almost in all, the laborers mix up 
some little capital with the work of their hands. The laborer of 
the United States is the United States : strike out the laborers of 
the United States, including therein all who in some way or other 
belong to the industrious and working classes, and you reduce the 
population of the United States from sixteen millions to one mil- 
lion. The American laborer is expected to have a comfortable 
home, decent, though frugal living, and to be able to clothe and 
educate his cliildren, to qualify them to take part, as all are called 
to do, in the political affairs and government of their country. 
Can this be said of any European laborer ? Does he take any 
share in the government of his country, or feel it an obligation to 
educate his children ? In most parts of Europe, nine tenths of the 
laborers have no interest in the soil they cultivate, nor in the fabrics 
they produce ; no hope, under any circumstances, of rising them- 
selves, or of raising their children, above the condition of a day 
laborer at wages, and only know the government under which they 
live, by the sense of its burdens, which they have no voice in miti- 
gating. 

To compare such a state of labor with the labor of this country, 
or reason from that to ours, is preposterous. And yet the doctrine 
now is, not of individuals only, but of the administration, that 
the wao-es of American labor must be brought down to the level 
of those of Europe. 

I have said this is not the doctrine of a few individuals ; and on 
that head I think injustice has been done to a Senator from Penn- 
sylvania, who has been made to bear a large share of the respon- 
sibility of suggesting such a policy. If I mistake not, the same 
idea is thrown out in the President's message at the commence- 
ment of the last session, and in the Treasury Report. Hear what 
Mr, Woodbury says : — 

" Should the States not speedily suspend more of their undertakings 
which are unproductive, but, by new loans, or otherwise, find means to em- 



489 

ploy armies of laborers in consumintr rather than raisinjr crops, and should 
prices tliiis continue in unny ciisrs to he unnaturally inflated, as they have 
been of late years, in \hn face of a contractintj currency, the effect of it on 
our financi's wouM be still in')re to lesson exports, and, consequently, the 
prosperity and revenue of our foreign trade." 

He is for turning off from the public works these " armies of la- 
borers," who consume without producing crops, and thus bring 
down prices, both of crops and labor. Diminish the mouths that 
consume, and multiply the arms that produce, and you have the 
Treasury prescription for mitigating distress and raising prices! 
How would that operate in this great State ? You have, perhaps, 
some fifteen thousand men employed on your public works — works 
of the kind that the Secretary calls " unproductive ; " and, even 
with such a demand as they must j)roduce for provisions, prices are 
very low. The Secretary's remedy is to set them to raise pro- 
visions themselves, and thus augment the supply, while they di- 
minish the demand. In this way, the wages of labor are to be 
reduced, as well as the prices of agricultural productions. But this 
is not all. I have in my hand an extract from a speech in the 
House of Representatives of a zealous supporter, as it appears, of 
the administration, who maintains that, other things being reduced 
in proportion, you may reduce the wages of labor, widiout evil 
consequences. And where does he seek this example ? On the 
shores of the Mediterranean. He fixes upon Corsica and Sardinia. 
But what is the Corsican laborer, that he should be the model upon 
wliich American labor is to be formed ? Does he know any thing 
himself? Has he any education, or does he give any to his chil- 
dren ? Has he a home, a freehold, and the comforts of life around 
him? No : with a crust of bread and a handful of olives, his daily 
wants are satisfied. And yet, from such a state of society, the la- 
borer of New^ England, the laborer of the United States, is to be 
taught submission to low wages. The extract before me states that 
the wages of Corsica are, 

" For the male laborer, 24 cents a day ; , 
And the female do. 11 cents do." — 

both, I presume, finding their own food. And the honorable gen- 
tleman argues that, owing to the greater cheapness of other articles, 
this is relatively as much as the American laborer gets ; and he 
illustrates the fact by this bill of clothing for a Corsican laborer: — 



"Jacket, 


lasting 24 months 


, 8 francs ; 


Cap, 


do. 


24 


do. 


2 do. 


Waistcoat, 


do. 


36 


do. 


4 do. 


Pantaloons, 


do. 


18 


do. 


5 do. 


Shirt, 


do. 


12 


do. 


3 do. 


Pair of shoes, 


do. 


6 


do. 


6 do. 


,. III. 62 








28 francs." 



490 

Eight francs are equal to one dollar and sixty cents, and five 
francs to one dollar. Now, what say you, my friends? What will 
the farmer of New York, of Pennsylvania, and New England, say 
to the idea of walking on Sunday to church, at the head of his fam- 
ily, in his jacket two years old? What will the young man say, 
when, his work ended, he desires to visit the families of his neigh- 
bors, to the one pair of pantaloons, not quite two years old, indeed, 
but, as the farmers say of a colt, " coming two next grass," and 
which, for eighteen months, have every day done yeoman's service? 
Away with it all ! Away with this plan for humbling and degrading 
the free, intelligent, well-educated, and well-paid laborer of the 
United States to the level of the almost brutal laborer of Europe! 

There is not much danger that schemes and doctrines such as 
these shall find favor with the people. They understand their own 
interest too well for that. Gentlemen, I am a farmer, on the sea- 
shore, and have, of course, occasion to employ some degree of agi-i- 
cultural labor. I am sometimes also rowed out to sea, being, like 
other New England men, fond of occasionally catching a fish, and 
finding health and recreation, in warm weather, from the air of the 
ocean. For the few months during which I am able to enjoy this 
retreat from labor, public or professional, I do not often trouble my 
neighbors, or tiiey me, whh conversation on politics. It happened, 
however, about three weeks ago, that, on such an excursion as I 
have mentioned, with one man only with me, I mentioned this doc- 
trine of the reduction of prices, and asked him his oiiinion of it. 

He said he did not like it. I replied, " The wages of labor, it 
is true, are reduced ; but then flour and beef, and perhaps clothing, 
all of which you buy, are reduced also. What, then, can be your 
objections? " " Why," said he, " it is true that flour is now low ; 
but then it is an article that may rise suddenly, by means of a 
scanty crop in England, or at home ; and, if it sliould rise from 
five dollars to ten, I do not know for certain that it would fetch the 
price of my labor up with it. But while wages are high, then I am 
safe ; and if produce chances to fall, so much the better for me. 
But there is another thing. I have but one thing to sell — that is, 
my labor ; but I must buy many things — not only flour, and meat, 
and clothing, but also some articles that come from other countries 
— a little sugar, a little coffee, a little tea, a little of the common 
spices, and such like. Now, I do not see how these foreign 
articles will be brought down by reducing wages at home ; and 
before the price is brought down of the only thing I have to sell, 
I want to be sure that the prices will fall, also, not of a part, but 
of all the things which I must buy." 

Now, gentlemen, though he will be astonished, Ov amused, that I 
should tell the story before such a vast and respectable assemblage 
as this, I will place tliis argument of Seth Peterson, sometimes farm- 



491 

er and sometimes fisherman on the coast of Massachusetts, stated 
to me while pulling an oar with each hand, and with the sleeves of 
his red shirt rolled up above his elbows, against the arguments, the 
theories, and the speeches, of the administration and all its friends, 
in or out of Congress, and take the verdict of the country, and 
of the civilized world, whether he has not the best side of the 
question. 

Since I have adverted to this conversation, gentlemen, allow me 
to say that this neighbor of mine is a man fifty years of age, one of 
several sons of a poor man; that by bis labor he has obtained some 
(ew acres, his own unencumbered freehold ; has a comfortable 
dwelling,^ and plenty of the poor man's blessings. Of these, I have 
known six, decently and cleanly clad, each with the book, the 
slate, and the map, proper to its age, all going at the same time 
daily to enjoy the blessing of that which is the great glory of New 
England, the common free school. Who can contemplate this, and 
thousands of other cases like it, not as pictures, but as common 
facts, without feeling how much our free institutions, and the policy 
hitherto pursued, have done for the comfort and happiness of the 
great mass of our citizens? Where in Europe, where in any part 
of the world out of our own country, shall we find labor thus re- 
warded, and the general condition of the people so good ? No- 
where ; nowhere ! Away, then, with the injustice and the folly of 
reducing the cost of productions with us to what is called the com- 
mon standard of the world ! Away, then, away at once and forev- 
er, with the miserable policy, which would bring the condition of a 
laborer in the United States to that of a laborer in Russia or Swe- 
den, in France or Germany, in Italy or Corsica! Instead of fol- 
lowing these examples, let us hold up our own, which all nations 
inay well envy, and which, unhappily, in most parts of the earth, it 
is easier to envy than to imitatp. 

But it is the cry and effort of the times to stimulate those who 
are called poor against those who are called rich ; and yet, among 
those who urge this cry, and seek to profit by it, there is betrayed 
sometimes an occasional sneer at whatever savors of humble life. 
Witness the reproach against a candidate now before the people for 
their highest honors, that a log cabin, with plenty of hard cider, is 
good enough for him ! 

It appears to some persons, that a great deal too much use is 
made of the symbol of the log cabin. No man of sense supposes, 
certainly, that the having lived in a log cabin is any further ])roof 
of qualification for the Presidency, than as it creates a presumption 
that any one who, from humble; condition, or under unfavorable cir- 
cumstances, has been able to attract a considerable degree of public 
attention, is possessed of reputable qualities, moral and intellectual. 

But it is to be remembered, that this matter of the log cabin 



492 

originated, not with the friends of the Whig candidate, but with liis 
enemies. Soon after his nomination at Harrisburg, a writer for one 
of the leading administration papers spoke of his "log cabin," and 
his use of "hard cider," by way of sneer and reproach. As might 
have been expected, (for pretenders are generally false,) this taunt 
at humble life proceeded from the party which claims for itself the 
character of the purest democracy. The whole party appeared to 
enjoy it, or, at least, they countenanced it by silent acquiescence ; 
for I do not know that, to this day, any eminent individual, or any 
leading newspaper attached to the administration, has rebuked this 
scornful jeering at the supposed humble condition or circumstances 
in life, past or present, of a worthy man and a war-worn soldier. 
But it touched a tender point in the public feeling. It naturally 
roused indignation. What was intended as reproach, was immedi- 
ately seized on as merit. "Be it so ! Be it so!" was the in- 
stant burst of the public voice. " Let him be the log cabin candi- 
date. What you say in scorn, we will shout with all our lungs. 
From this day forward, we have our cry of rally ; and we shall see 
whether he, who has dwelt in one of the rude abodes of the West, 
may not become the best house in the country ! " 

All this is natural, and springs from sources of just feeling. Oth- 
er things, gentlemen, have had a similar origin. We all know that 
the term "Whig" was bestowed in derision, two hundred years 
ago, on those who were thought too fond of liberty ; and our na- 
tional air of "Yankee Doodle" was composed by British officers, in 
ridicule of the American troops. Yet, erelong, the last of the 
British armies laid down its arms at Yorktown, while this same air 
was playing in the ears of officers and men. Gentlemen, it is only 
shallow-minded pretenders, who either make distinguished origin 
matter of personal merit, or obscure origin matter of personal re- 
proach. Taunt and scoffing at the humble condition of early life, 
affect nobody in this country, but those who are foolish enough to 
indulge in them, and they are generally sufficiently punished by 
public rebuke. A man who is not ashamed of himself, needs not 
be ashamed of his early condition. 

Gentlemen, it did not happen to me to be born in a log cabin ; 
but my elder brothers and sisters were born in a log cabin, raised 
amid the snow-drifts of New Hampshire, at a period so early as 
that, when the smoke first rose from its rude chimney, and curled 
over the frozen hills, there was no similar evidence of a white 
man's habitation between it and the settlements on the rivers of 
Canada. Its remains still exist. I make to it an annual visit. I 
carry my children to it, to teach them the hardships endured by the 
generations which have gone before them. I love to dwell on the 
tender recollections, the kindred ties, the early affections, and the 
touchins: narratives and incidents, which minde with all I know of 
this primitive family abode. I weep to think that none of those 



493 

who inhabited it are now amonij the livincr ; and if ever I am 
ashamed of it, or if I ever fail in affectionate veneration for him 
who reared it, and defended it a<:ainst savat:;e violence and destruc- 
tion, cherished all die domestic virtues beneath its roof, and, throngh 
the fire and blood of a seven years' revolutionary war, shrunk from 
no danger, no toil, no sacrifice, to serve his country, and to raise his 
children to a condition better than his own, niay my name and 
the name of my posterity be blotted forever from the memory 
of mankind I 

[Mr. Webster then reviewed the expenditures of the Government; but just 
at the last moment we find, with regret, that the sheet containing this portion 
of tlie speech has been mislaid or lost. We supply, therefore, from memory, a 
very brief, and, we are aware, a very inadequate outline of the argument.] 

The expenditures of this administradon have been eminently 
wasteful and extravagant. Over and above the ordinary revenue 
of the country, Mr. V^an Buren has spent more than tiveyity millions 
that reached the Tj-easury from other sources. I specify — 

Reserved under the Deposit Act, 6,000,000 

Fourth Instalment of Surplus, kept back, 9,000,000 

Payment by the Bank of United States on its Bonds, 5,000,000 

^20,000,000 

But even this has been found insufficient for the prodigality of 
the administration : and we had not been long assembled in Con- 
gress before a demand was made upon it, notwithstanding the 
flattering representations of the Message and the Treasury Report, 
for authority to issue five millions more of Treasury notes ; and 
this, we were assured, if Congress would only keep within the 
estimates submitted by the Departments, would be ample. Con- 
gress did keep within the estimates ; and yet, before we broke up, 
intimations came from the Treasury that they must have authority 
to borrow, or issue Treasury notes for four and a half millions more ! 

This time, even the friends of the administration demurred, and, 
finally, refused to grant this new aid ; and what then was the 
alternative ? Why, after having voted appropriations for the 
various branches of the public service, all within the estimates, and 
all of which, they were told, were indispensable, Congress con- 
ferred on the President, by a special section, authority to withhold 
these appropriations from such objects as he pleased, and out of 
certain classes, to select, at his discretion, those upon which money 
should be expended. Entire auUiority was thus given to the 
President over all these expenditures, in evasion, as it seems to me, 
of that provision of the Constitution forbidding all expenditure, 
except by virtue of ap|)ropriations — which, if it mean any thing, 
must mean the specification of distinct sums for distinct purposes. 

p p 



494 

In this way, then, it is proposed to keep back from indispensable 
works, or works declared by the administration to be indispensable, 
four and a half millions, which are, nevertheless, appropriated, and 
which, with five millions of Treasury notes already issued, will 
constitute a debt of from nine to ten miUions. 

So, then, when General Harrison shall succeed, in March next, 
to the Presidential chair, all that he will inherit from his prede- 
cessors — besides their brilliant example — will be these Treasury 
vaults and safes, without a dollar in them, and a debt of ten millions 
of dollars. 

The whole revenue policy of this administration has been 
founded in error. While the Treasury is becoming poorer and 
poorer, articles of luxury are admitted free of duty. Look at the 
Custom House returns — 20,000,000 dollars worth of silks imported 
in one year, free of duty, and other articles of luxury in propor- 
tion, that should be made to contribute to the revenue. 

We have, in my judgment, imported excessively ; and yet the 
President urges it as an objection to works of public improvement, 
to railroads and canals, that they diminish our importations, and 
thereby interfere with the comforts of the people. His messaii"e 
says — 

" Our people will not long be insensible to the extent of the burdens 
entailed upon them by the false system that has been operatinor on their 
sanguine, energetic, and industrious character ; nor to the means necessary 
to extricate themselves from these embarrassments. The weight which 
presses upon a large portion of the people, and the States, is an enormous 
debt, foreign and domestic. The foreign debt of our States, corporations, 
and men of business, can scarcely be less than two hundred millions of 
dollars, requiring more than ten millions of dollars a year to pay the in- 
terest. Tills sum has to be paid out of the exports of the country, and 
must of necessity cut off imports to that extent, or plunge the country 
more deeply in debt from year to year. It is easy to see that the increase 
of this foreign debt must augment the annual demand on the exports to 
pay the interest, and to the same extent diminish the imports ; and in 
proportion to the enlargement of the foreign debt, and the consequent in- 
crease of interest, must be the decrease of tlie import trade. In lieu of the 
comforts which it now brings us, we might have one gigantic banking 
institution, and splendid, but in many instances profitless, railroads and 
canals, absorbing, to a great extent, in interest upon the capital borrowed 
to construct them, the surplus fruits of national industry for years to come, 
and securing to posterity no adequate return for the comforts which the 
labors of their hands might otherwise have secured." 

What are these comforts that we are to get so much more of, if 
we will only stop our railroads and canals ? Foreign goods, loss of 
employment at home, European wages, and lastly, direct taxation. 

One of the gentlemen of the South, of that nullifying State 
Rights party that has absorbed the administration, or been absorbed 
by it, comes boldly out with the declaration that the period is 
arrived for a direct tax on land; and, holding up this idea, others 



495 

have said, that it will bring the North to the grindstone. We 
shall see, before this contest is over, who will be the parties ground, 
and who the grinders. It is, however, but just to add that, thus 
far, this is only an expression of individual opinion, and I do not 
charge it to be otherwise. 

I had proposed to say something of the militia bill ; but it is 
already so late that I must forego this topic. [" No, no! Go on, 
go on ! " — from the crowd.] 

[Mr. Webster resumed, and briefly analyzed the bill. Owing, however, to 
the lateness of the hour, he did not go largely into the discussion. He did not, 
he said, mean to charge Mr. Van Biiren with any purpose to play the part of a 
CsBsar or a Cromwell ; but ho did say that, in his judgment, the plan, as recom- 
mended by tiie President in his message, and of which the annual report of 
the Secretary of War, accompanying the message, developed the leading 
features, would, if carried into operation, be expensive, burdensome, in deroga- 
tion of the Constitution, and dangerous to our liberties. Mr. W. referred 
rapidly to the President's recent letter to some gentleman in Virginia, endeav- 
oring to exculpate himself for the recommendation in the message, by endeavor- 
ing to show a difference between the plan then so strongly commended, and 
that submitted in detail, some months afterwards, by the Secretary of War, to 
Congress. Mr. W. pronounced this attempt wholly unsatisfactory. Mr. W. 
then went on to say — ] 

I have now frankly stated my opinions as to the nature of the 
present excitement, and have answered the question I propounded 
as to the causes of the revolution in public sentiment now in 
progress. Will this revolution succeed ? Does it move the masses, 
or is it an ebullition merely on the surface? And who is it that 
opposes the change which seems to be going forward ? [Here some 
one in the crowd cried out, " None, hardly, but the office-holders, 
o])pose it." Mr. AVebster continued — ] I hear one say that the 
office-holders oppose it ; and that is true. If they were quiet, in my 
opinion, a change would take place almost by common consent. I 
have heard of an anecdote, perhaps hardly suited to the sobriety and 
dignity of this occasion, but which confirms the answer which my 
friend in the crowd has given to my question. It happened to a 
farmer's .son, that his load of hay was blown over by a sudden gust, 
on an exposed plain. Those near him, seeing him manifest a 
degree of distress, which such an accident would not usually occa- 
sion, asked him the reason ; he said he should not take on so much 
about it, only father was under the load. I think it very probable, 
gentlemen, that there are many now very active and zealous friends, 
who would not care much whether the wagon of the administration 
were blown over or not, if it were not for the fear that father, or 
son, or uncle, or brother, might be found under the load. Indeed, 
it is remarkable how frequently the fire of patriotism glows in the 
breasts of the holders of office. A thousand favored contractors 



496 

shake with horrid fear, lest the proposed change should put the 
interests of the public in great danger. Ten thousand Post Oirices, 
moved by the same apprehension, join in the cry of alarm, while a 
perfect earthquake of disinterested remonstrance proceeds from the 
Custom Houses. Patronage and favoritism tremble and quake, 
through every limb and every nerve, lest the people should be 
found in favor of a change, which might endanger the liberties of 
the country, or at least break down its present eminent and dis- 
tinguished prosperity, by abandoning the measures, so wise, so 
beneficent, so successful, and so popular, which the present ad- 
ministration has pursued ! 

Fellow-citizens, we have all sober and important duties to per- 
form. I have not addressed you, to-day, for the purpose of joining 
in a premature note of triumph, or raising a shout for anticipated 
victories. We are in the controversy, not through it. It is our 
duty to spare no pains to circulate information, and to spread the 
truth far and wide. Let us persuade those who differ from us, if 
we can, to hear both sides. Let us remind them that we are all 
embarked together, with a common interest and a common fate. 
And let us, without rebuke or unkindness, beseech them to consider 
what the good of the whole requires, — what is best for them and 
for us. There are two causes which keep back thousands of honest 
men from joining those who wish for a change. 

The first of these is the fear of reproach from former associates, 
and the pain which party denunciation is capable of inflicting. 
But, surely, the manliness of the American character is superior to 
this ! Surely, no American citizen will feel himself chained to the 
wheels of any party, nor bound to follow it, against his conscience, 
and his sense of the interest of the country. Resolution and de- 
cision ought to dissipate such restraints, and to leave men free at 
once to act upon their own convictions. Unless this can be done, 
party has entailed upon us a miserable slavery, by compelling us 
to act against our consciences, on questions of the greatest im- 
portance. 

The other cause is the constant cry that the party of the ad- 
ministration is the true democratic party, or the more popular party 
in the Government and in the country. The falsity of this claim 
has not been sufficiently exposed. It should have been met, and 
should be now met, not only by denial, but by proof If they 
mean the new democracy — the cry against credit, against industry, 
against labor, against man's right to leave his own earnings to his 
own children — why, then, doubtless, they are right ; all this sort 
of democracy is theirs. But if by democracy they mean a con- 
scientious and stern adherence to the true popular principles of the 
Constitution and the Government, then I think they have very litde 
claim to it. Is the augmentation of Executive power a democratic 



497 

principle? Is the separation of the currency of Government 
from the currency of the people a democratic principle ? Is the 
imbodying a large military force, in time of peace, a democratic 
principle ? 

Let us entreat honest men not to take names for things, nor 
pretences for proofs. If democracy, in any constitutional sense, 
belongs to our adversaries, let them show their title and produce 
their evidence. Let the question be examined ; and let not intel- 
ligent and well-meaning citizens be kept to the support of measures 
which in their hearts and consciences tiiey disapprove, because 
their authors put foitli such loud claims to the sole possession of 
regard for the people. 

Fellow-citizens of the County of Saratoga : In taking leave of 
you, I cannot but remind you how distingulsh.ed a place your 
county occupies in the history of the country. I cannot be igno- 
rant, that in the midst of you are many, at this moment, who saw 
in this neighborhood the triumph of republican arms in the sur- 
render of General Burgoyne. I cannot doubt that a fervent spirit 
of patriotism burns in their breasts, and in the breasts of their 
children. They helped to save their country amidst the storms of 
war ; they will help to save it, I am fully persuaded, in the present 
severe civil crisis. Fellow-citizens, I verily believe it is true, that, 
of all that are left to us from the Revolution, nine tenths are with us, 
in the existing contest. If there be living a revolutionary officer, 
or soldier, who has joined in the attacks upon General Harrison's 
military character, I have not met with him. It is not, therefore, 
in the County of Saratoga, that a cause sustained by such means 
is likely to prevail. 

Fellow-citizens, the great question is now before the country. 
If, with the experience of the past, the American people think 
proper to confirm power in the hands which now hold it, and 
thereby sanction the leading policy of the administration, it will be 
your duty and mine to bow, with submission, to the public w^ill ; 
but, for myself, I shall not believe It possible for me to be of service 
to the country. In any department of public life. I shall look on, 
with no less love of country than ever, but with fearful forebodings 
of what may be near at hand. 

But, fellow-citizens, I do not at all expect that result. I fully 
believe the change is coming. If we all do our duty, we shall 
restore the Government to Its former policy, and the country to Its 
former prosperity. And let us here, to-day, fellow-citizens, with 
full resolution and patriotic purpose of heart, give and take pledges 
that, until this great controversy be ended, our time, our talents, 
our efforts, are all due, and shall all be faithfully given, to our 

COUNTRY. 

VOL, III. 63 p p * 



DECLARATION 



OF PRINCIPLES AND PURPOSES ADOPTED BY A GENERAL CONVEN- 
TION OF THE WHIGS OF NEW ENGLAND, AT BUNKER HILL, ON 
THE TENTH OF SEPTEMBER, 1840. PREPARED BY MR. WEBSTER, 
AND SIGNED BY HIM AS PRESIDENT OF THE CONVENTION. 



When men pause from their ordinary occupations, and assemble 
in great numbers, a proper respect for the judgment of the country, 
and of the age, requires that they should clearly set forth the grave 
causes which have brought them together, and the purposes which 
they seek to promote. 

Feeling the force of this obligation, fifty thousand of the free 
electors of the New England States, honored also by the presence 
of like free electors from nearly every other State in the Union, 
having assembled on Bunker Hill, on this 10th day of September, 
1840, proceed to set forth a declaration of their principles, and 
of the occasion and objects of their meeting. 

In the first place, we declare our unalterable attachment to that 
Public Liberty, the purchase of so much blood and treasure, in the 
acquisition of which the field whereon we stand obtained early and 
imperishable renown. Bunker Hill is not a spot on which we shall 
forget the principles of our Fathers, or suffer any thing to quench 
within our own bosoms the love of freedom which we have in- 
herited from them. 

In the next place, we declare our warm and hearty devotion to 
tbe Constitution of the country, and to that Union of the States 
which it has so happily cemented, and so long and so prosperously 
preserved. We call ourselves by no local names, we recognize no 
geographical divisions, while we give utterance to our sentiments 
on high constitutional and political subjects. We are Americans, 
citizens of the United States, knowing no other country, and desir- 
ing to be distinguished by no other appellation. We believe the 
Constitution, while administered wisely and in its proper spirit, to 
be capable of protecting all parts of the country, securing all inter- 
ests, and perpetuating a National Brotherhood among all the States. 
We believe that to foment local jealousies, to attempt to prove the 
existence of opposite interests between one part of the country and 
another, and thus to disseminate feelings of distrust and alienation, 
while it is in contemptuous disregard of the counsels of the great 

498 



J 



499 

Father of his country, Is but one form, in whicli irregular ambition, 
destitute of all true patriotism, and a love of power, reckless of 
the means of its gratification, exhibit their unsubdued and burning 
desire. 

We believe, too, that party spirit, however natural or unavoid- 
able it may be in free Republics, yet when it gains such an ascen- 
dency in men's minds, as leads them to substitute party for country, 
to seek no ends but party ends, no approbation but party approba- 
tion, and to fear no reproach or contumely, so that there be no party 
dissatisfaction, not only alloys the true enjoyment of such institu- 
tions, but weakens, every day, the foundations on which they stand. 

We are in favor of the liberty of speech and of the press ; 
\vc are friends of free discussion ; we espouse the cause of popular 
education; we believe in man's capacity for self-government; we 
desire to see the freest and widest dissemination of knowledge and 
of truth ; and we believe, especially, in the benign influence of 
religious feeling, and moral instruction, on the social as well as 
on the individual happiness of man. 

Holding these general sentiments and opinions, we have come 
together to declare that, under the present administration of the 
General Government, a course of measures has been adopted and 
pursued. In our judgments, disastrous to the best interests of tlie 
country, threatening the accumulation of still greater evils, utterly 
hostile to the ti ue spirit of the Constitution and to the principles of 
civil liberty, and calling upon all men of honest purpose, disinter- 
ested patriotism, and unbiased intelligence, to put forth their 
utmost constitutional efforts in order to effect a change. 

General Andrew Jackson was elected President of the United 
States, and took the oaths and his seat on the 4th of March, 1829; 
and we readily admit that, under his administration, certain portions 
of the public affairs were conducted with ability. But we have to 
lament that he was not proof against the insinuations and influ- 
ences of evil counsellors, or perhaps against his own passions, when 
inoved and excited. Hence, in one most important branch of 
the public Interest, in that essential part of commercial regulation 
which respects the money, the currency, the circulation, and the 
internal exchanges, of the country, accidental occurrences, acting on 
his characteristic love of rule, and uneasiness under opposition, led 
him to depart from all that was expected from him, and to enter 
upon measures which plunged both him and the country in greater 
and greater difficulties at every step, so that, in this respect, his 
whole course of administration was but a series of ill-fated experi- 
ments, and of projects framed in disregard of prudence and prece- 
dent, and bursting in rapid succession ; the final explosion taking 
place a few months after his retirement from office. 

General Jackson was not elected with any desire or expectation, 



500 

on the part of any of his supporters, that he would interfere with the 
currency of the country. We affirm this as the truth of history. 
It is incapahle of refutation or denial. It is as certain as that the 
American Revolution was not undertaken to destroy the rights of 
property, or overthrow the obligation of morals. 

But, unhappily, he became involved in a controversy with the 
then existiug Bank of the United States. He manifested a desire — • 
how originating, or by whom inspired, is innnaterial — to exercise a 
political influence over that institution, and to cause that institution 
to exercise, in turn, a political influence over the community. Pub- 
lished documents prove this, as plainly as they prove any other act 
of his administration. In this desire he was resisted, thwarted, and 
finally defeated. But what he could not govern, he supposed he 
could destroy ; and the event showed that he did not overrate his 
popularity and his power. He pursued the Bank to the death, 
and achieved his triumph by the Veto of 1832. The accustomed 
means of maintaining a sound and uniform currency, for the use of 
the whole country, having been thus trampled down and destroyed, 
recourse was had to those new modes of experimental administra- 
tion, to which we have already adverted, and \\hich terminated so 
disastrously, both for the reputation of his administration and for the 
welfare of the country. 

But General Jackson did not deny his constitutional obligations, 
nor seek to escape from their force. He never professedly aban- 
doned all care over the general currency. His whole conduct shows 
that he admitted, throughout, the duty of the General Government 
to maintain a supervision over the currency of the country, both 
metallic and paper, for the general good and use of the people; and 
he congratulated both himself and the nation, that, by the measures 
adopted by him, the currency and the exchanges of the country 
were placed on a better footing than they ever had been under the 
operation of a Bank of die United States. This confidence in his 
own experiments, we know, proved most illusory. But the fre- 
quency with which he repeated this and similar declarations estab- 
lishes, incontestably, his own sense of the duty of Government. 

In all the measures of General Jackson upon the currency, the 
present Chief Magistrate is known to have concurred. Like him, 
he was opposed to the Bank of the United States; like him, he 
was in Aivor of the State Deposit Banks ; and, like him, he 
insisted that, by the aid of such banks, the Administration had 
accomplished all that could be desired, on the great subjects of the 
currency and the exchange. 

But the catastrophe of May, 1837, produced a new crisis, by 
overthrowing the last in the series of experiments, and creating an 
absolute necessity, either of returning to that policy of the Govern- 
ment which General Jackson had repudiated, or of renouncing 



501 

altogetlier the constitutional duty which it had been the obiect of 
tliat ])olicy to peiibrni. The huier branch of the ahernative was 
adopted. Refuge was sought in escape. A duty, up to that 
moment admitted by all, was suddenly denied, and the fearful 
resolution announced, that Government would hereafter provide for 
its own revenues, and that for the rest, the people niust take care 
of themselves. 

Assembled here, to-day, and feeling, in common witli the whole 
country, the evil consequences of these principles and these meas- 
ures, we utter against them all, from first to last, our deep and 
solemn disapprobation and remonstrance. We condemn the early 
departure of General Jackson from that line of policy which he was 
expected to pursue. We deplore the temper which led him to his 
original quarrel with the Bank. We deplore the headstrong spirit 
which instigated him to pursue that institution to its destruction. 
We deplore the timidity of some, the acquiescence of others, and 
the subserviency of all of his party, which enabled him to carry 
its whole, unbroken phalanx to the support of measures, and the 
accomplishment of purposes, whicli we know to have been against 
the wishes, the remonstrances, and the consciences, of many of the 
most respectable and intelligent. We deplore his abandoinnent of 
those means for assuring a good currency, which had been success- 
fully tried for forty years ; liis rash experiments with great interests ; 
and the perseverance with which he persisted in them, when men 
of different temperament must have been satisfied of their useless- 
ness and impotence. 

But General Jackson's administration, authority, and influence, 
are now historical. They belong to the past, while we have to do, 
to-day, with the serious evils, and the still more alarming portents, 
of the present. We remonstrate, therefore, most earnestly and em- 
phatically, against the policy upon this subject of the present Admin- 
istration. We protest against the truth of its principles. We deny 
the propriety and justice of its measures. We are constrained to 
have too litde respect for its objects, and we desire to rouse the 
country, so far as we can, to the evils which oppress and the 
dan'i^ers that surround us. 

We insist that the present Administration has consulted its own 
party ends, and the preservation of its own power, to the manifest 
neglect of great objects of public interest. We think there is no 
liberality, no political comprehension, no just or enlarged policy, in 
its leading measures. We look upon its abandonment of the cur- 
rency as fatal ; and we regard its system of sub-Treasuries as but a 
poor device to avoid a high obligation, or as the first in a new series 
of ruthless experiments. We believe its professions in favor of a 
hard-money currency to be insincere ; because we do not believe 
that any person, of common information and ordinary understanding, 



502 

can suppose that the use of paper, as a circulating medium, will be 
discontinued, even if such discontinuance were desirable, unless the 
Government shall break down the acknowledged authoriiy of the 
State Governments to establish Banks. We believe the clamor 
against State Banks, State Bonds, and Slate Credits, to liave been 
raised by the friends of the Administration to divert public attention 
from its own mismanagement, and to throw on otiiers the conse- 
quence of its own conduct. We heard nothing of all this in the 
early part of General Jackson's administration, nor until his meas- 
ures had brought the currency of the country into the utmost dis- 
order. We know that, in times past, the present Chief Magistrate 
has, of all men, had most to do with the systems of State Banks, 
the most foith in their usefulness, and no very severely chastened 
desire to profit by their influence. We believe that the purpose 
of exercising a money influence over the community has never 
departed from the Administration. What it could not accomplish 
by an attempt to bend the Bank of the United States to its pur- 
poses, we believe it has sought, and now seeks, to effect by its project 
of the sub-Treasury. We believe that, in order to maintain the 
principles upon which the system of the sub-Treasury is founded, 
the friends of the Administration have been led to espouse opinions 
destructive of the internal commerce of the country, paralyzing to 
its whole industry, tending to sink its labor, both in price and in 
character, to the degraded standard of the uninformed, the ignorant, 
the suffering labor of the worst parts of Europe. Led by the same 
necessity, or pushing the same principles still farther, and with a 
kind of revolutionary rapidity, we have seen the rights of property 
not only assailed, but denied ; the boldest agrarian notions put fortli ; 
the power of transmission from father to son openly denounced; the 
right of one to participate in the earnings of another, to the rejec- 
tion of the natural claims of his own children, asserted as a funda- 
mental principle of the new Democracy ; — and all this by those who 
are in the pay of Government, receiving large salaries, and whose 
offices would be nearly sinecures, but for the labor performed in the 
attempt to give currency to these principles and these opinions. 
We believe that the general tone of the measures of the Adminis- 
tration, the manner in which it confers favors, its apparent prefer- 
ence for partisans of extreme opinions, and the readiness with which 
it bestows its confidence on the boldest and most violent, are 
producing serious injuries upon the political morals and general 
sentiments of the country. We believe that to this cause is fairly 
to be attributed the most lamentable change which has taken place 
in the temper, the sobriety, and the wisdom, with which the high 
public counsels have been hitherto conducted. We look with alarm 
to the existing state of things, in this respect ; and we would most 
earnestly, and with all our hearts, as well for the honor of the coun- 



603 

try, as for its interests, beseech all good men to unite with us in an 
attempt to brin^^ back the deliberative age of the Government — to 
restore to tiie collected bodies of the People's Representatives that 
self-respect, decorum, and dignity, without which the business of 
legislation can make no regular progress, and is always in danger 
either of accomplishing notbing, or of reaching its ends by unjusti- 
fiable and violent means. 

We believe the conduct of the Administration respecting the 
public revenue to be highly reprehensible. It has expended twenty 
millions, previously accumulated, besides all the accruing income, 
since it came into power ; and there seems at this moment to be no 
doubt that it will leave to its successors a public debt of from five 
to ten millions of dollars. It has shrunk from its proper responsi- 
bilities. With t!ie immediate prospect of an empty treasury, it has 
yet not had the manliness to recommend to Congress any adequate 
provision. It has constantly spoken of the excess of receipts over 
expenditures, until this excess has finally manifested itself in an 
absolute necessity for loans, and in a power conferred on the Presi- 
dent, altogether new, and in our judgment hostile to the whole spirit 
of the Constitution, to meet the event of want of resources by with- 
holding, out of certain classes of appropriations made by Congress, 
such as he chooses to think may be best spared. It lives by shifts 
and contrivances, by shallow artifices and delusive names, by what 
it calls '•facilities," and the " excliange of Treasury notes for 
specie ;" while, in truth, it has been fast contracting a public debt, 
in the midst of all its boasting, without daring to lay the plain and 
naked truth of the case before the people. 

^Ve protest against the conduct of the House of Representatives 
in the case of the New Jersey election. This is not a local, but a 
general question. In the Union of the States, on whatever link the 
blow of injustice or usurpation tails, it is felt, and ought to be felt, 
through the whole chain. The cause of New Jersey is the cause 
of every State, and every State is therefore bound to vindicate it. 

That the reiiular commission, or certificate of return, signed by 
the chief magistrate of the State, according to the provisions of law, 
entitles those who produce it to be sworn in as members of Con- 
gress, to vote in the organization of the House, and to hold their 
seats until their right be disturbed by regular petition and proof, is a 
proposition of constitutional law, of such universal extent and uni- 
versal acknowledgment, that it cannot be strengthened by argument 
or by analogy. There is nothing clearer, and nothing better settled. 
No legislative body could ever be organized without the adoption 
of this principle. Yet, in the case of the New Jersey members, it 
Avas entirely disregarded. And it is of awful portent that on such a 
question, — a question in its nature strictly judicial, — the domination 
of party should lead men thus flagrantly to violate first principles. 



V 



504 

It is the first step that costs. After this open disregard of the ele- 
mentary mles of law and justice, it should create no surprise that, 
pending the labors of a Committee especially appointed to ascertain 
who were duly elected, a set of men calling themselves Representa- 
tives of the people of New Jersey, who had no certificates from the 
chief magistrate of the State, or according to the laws of the State, 
were voted into tlicir seats, under silence imposed by the previous 
question, and afterwards gave their votes for the passage of the sub- 
Treasury law. We call most solemnly upon all who, with us, be- 
lieve that these proceedings alike invade the rights of the States, and 
dishonor the cause of popular government and free institutions, to 
supply an efficient and decisive remedy, by the unsparing applica- 
tion of the elective franchise. 

We protest against the plan of the Administration respecting the 
training and disciplining of the militia. The President now admits 
it to be unconstitutional ; and it is plainly so, on the face of it, for 
the training of the militia is by the Constitution expressly reserved 
to the States. If it were not unconstitutional, it would yet be 
unnecessary, burdensome, entailing enormous expense, and placing 
dangerous powers in Executive hands. It belongs to the prolific 
family of Executive projects, and it is a consolation to find that 
at least one of its projects has been so scorched by public rebuke 
and reprobation, that no man raises his hand or opens his mouth 
in its favor. 

It was during the progress of the late Administration, and under 
the well-known auspices of the present Chief Magistrate, that the 
declaration was made in the Senate, that, in regard to public office, 
the spoils of victory belonged to the conquerors ; thus boldly pro- 
claiming, as the creed of the party, that political contests are right- 
fully struggles for office and emolument. We protest against 
doctrines which thus regard offices as created for the sake of 
incumbents, and stimulate the basest passions to the pursuit of 
high public trusts. 

We protest against the repeated instances of disregarding judicial 
decisions, by officers of Government, and others enjoying its coun- 
tenance ; thus setting up Executive interpretation over the solemn 
adjudications of courts and juries, and showing marked disrespect 
for the usual and constitutional interpretation and execution of 
the laws. 

This misgovernment and maladministration would have been the 
more tolerable, if it had not been committed, in most instances, in 
direct contradiction to the warmest professions and the most solemn 
assurances. Promises of a better currency, for example, have ended 
in the destruction of all national and uniform currency : assurances 
of the strictest economy have been but preludes to the most waste- 
ful excess ; even the Florida war has been conducted under loud 



505 

pretences of severe frugality ; and the most open, unblushing, and 
notorious interference with State elections has been systematically 
practised by the paid agents of an Administration, which, in the full 
ireshness of its oath of office, declared that one of its leading objects 
should be, to accomplish that task of reform, which ynrticidurly 
required the correction of those abuses, tchich brought the patron- 
age of the federal government into conjlict with the freedom 
of elections. 

In the teeth of this solemn assurance, it has been proved that 
United States officei-s have been assessed, in sums bearing pro- 
portion to the whole amount they receive from the treasury, for 
the purpose of supporting their partisans even in State and mu- 
nicipal elections. 

VVhatever, in short, has been most professed, has been least 
practised ; and it seems to have been taken for granted that the 
American people would be satisfied with pretence, and a full-toned 
assurance of patriotic purpose. The history of the last twelve 
years has been but the history of broken promises and disappointed 
hopes. At every successive period of this history, an enchanting, 
rose-colored futurity has been spread out before the people, espe- 
cially in regard to the great concerns of revenue, finance, and 
currency. But these colors have faded, as the object has been 
approached. Prospects of abundant revenue have resulted in the 
necessity of borrowing ; the brilliant hopes of a better currency 
end in general derangement, stagnation, and distress ; and while 
the whole country is roused to an unprecedented excitement by 
the pressure of the times, every state paper from the Cabinet at 
Washington comes forth fraught with congratulations on that happy 
state of things w^hich the judicious policy of the Administration is 
alleged to have brought about ! Judged by the tone of these 
papers, every present movement of the people is quite unreasonable; 
and all attempts at change, only so many ungrateful returns for the 
wise and successful administration of public affairs ! 

There is yet another subject of complaint to which we feel bound 
to advert, by our veneration for the illustrious dead, by our respect 
for truth, by our love for the honor of our country, and by our own 
wounded pride as American citizens. We feel that the country has 
been dishonored, and we desire to free ourselves from all imputation 
of acquiescence in the parricidal act. The late President, in a com- 
munication to Congress, more than intimates that some of the earli- 
est and most important measures of Washington's administration were 
the offspring of personal motives and private interests. His successor 
has repeated and extended this accusation, and given to it, we are 
compelled to say, a greater degree of ofFensiveness and grossness. 
No man, with an American heart in his bosom, can endure this 
without feeling the deepest humiliation, as well as the most burning 

VOL. III. 64 <i Q 



506 

scorn. The fame of Washington and his immediate associates is 
of the richest treasures of the country. His is that naine which an 
American may utter with pride in every part of the world, and which, 
wherever uttered, is shouted to the skies by the voices of all true 
lovers of human liberty. Imputations which assail his measures so 
rudely, while they are abominable violations of the truth of history, 
are an insult to the country, and an offence against the moral senti- 
ments of civilized mankind. Miserable, miserable indeed, must be 
that cause which cannot support its party predominance, its ruinous 
schemes and senseless experiments, without thus attempting to poi-on 
the fountains of truth, and to prove the Government of our country 
disgracefully corrupt, even in its very cradle. Our hearts would 
sink within us, if we believed that such efforts could succeed ; but 
they must be impotent. Neither the recent nor the present Presi- 
dent was born to cast a shade on the character of Washington or 
his associates. The destiny of both has been, rather, to illustrate, by 
contrast, that wisdom and those virtues which they have not imitated, 
and to hurl blows, which the affectionate veneration of American 
citizens, and the general justice of the civilized world, will render 
harmless to others, and powerful only in their recoil upon themselves. 
If this language be strong, so also is that feeling of indignation which 
has suHsested it ; and on an occasion like this, we could not leave 
this consecrated spot, without the consciousness ol havmg omitted an 
indispensable duty, had we not thus given utterance to the fulness of 
our hearts, and marked with our severest rebuke, and most thorough 
reprobation and scorn, a labored effort to fix a deep and enduring 
stain on the early history of the Government. 

Finally, on this spot, the fame of w hich began with our liberty, 
and can only end with it, in the presence of these multitudes, of the 
whole country, and of the world, we declare our conscientious con- 
victions, that the present Administration has proved itself incapable of 
conducting the public affairs of the nation in such a manner as shall 
preserve the Constitution, maintain the public liberty, and secure 
general prosperity. We declare, with the utmost sincerity, that we 
believe its main purpose to have been, to continue its own power, 
influence, and popularity ; that to this end it has abandoned indispen- 
sable but highly responsible constitutional duties ; that it has trifled 
with the great concerns of finance and currency ; that it has used the 
most reprehensible means for influencing public opinion ; that it has 
countenanced the application of public money to party purposes ; 
that it endeavors to consolidate and strengthen party by every form 
of public patronage ; that it laboriously seeks to conceal the truth 
from the people on subjects of great interest ; that it has shown itself 
to be selfish in its ends, and corrupt in its means ; and that, if 
it should be able to maintain itself in power through another terni, 
there is the most imminent danger that it will plunge the country in 



507 

still further difficulty, bring on still greater disorder and distress, and 
undennine at once the foundations of the public prosperity and the 
institutions of the country. 

Men thus false to their own professions, false to the principles of tlie 
Constitution, false to the interests of the i)eople, and false to the highest 
honor of their country, are unfit to be the Rulers of this Republic. 

The People of the United States have a right to good government. 
They have a right to an honest and faithful exercise of all the pow- 
ers of the Constitution, as understood and practised in the best days of 
the Republic for the general good. They have an inalienable right 
to all the blessings o( that Liberty which their Fathers achieved, and 
all the benefits of that Union which their Fathers established. 

And standing here, this day, with the memory of those Fathers 
fresli on our hearts, and with tlie fields of their glory and the monu- 
ments of tiieir fame full in our view, — with Bunker Hill beneath 
us, and Concord, and Lexington, and Dorchester Heights, and Fan- 
euil Hall, all around us, — we here, as a part of the people, pledge 
ourselves to each other and to our Country, to spare no lawful and 
honorable eflbrts to vindicate and maintain these rights, and to 
remove fi-om the high places of the nation, men who have thus 
contemned and violated them. 

And we earnestly and solemnly invoke all good men and true 
patriots throughout the Union, foregoing all consideration of party, 
and forgetting all distinction of State or section, to rally once more, 
as our Fathers did in '75, against the common oppressors of our 
country, and to unite with us in restoring our glorious Constitution 
to its true interpretation, its practical administration, and its just 
supremacy. 

In such a cause, principles are every thing ; individuals nothing. 
Yet we cannot forget that we have worthy, honest, capable can- 
didates for the offices from which we hope to remove the present 
incumbents. 

Those who desire a change, throughout the whole country, have 
agreed, with extraordinary unanimity, to support General William 
Henry Harrison for the office of President. We believe him to be 
an honest and faidiful citizen, who has served his country success- 
fully, in divers civil trusts ; and we believe him a veteran soldier, 
whose honor and bravery cannot be questioned. We give him our 
unhesitating confidence ; and in that confidence we sliall support 
him, and the distinguished citizen of Virginia, who has been nomi- 
nated for the Vice-Presidency, with all our efforts and all our hearts, 
through the present contest ; convinced that by their election the 
true spirit of the Constitution will be restored, the prosperity of the 
people revived, the stability of our free institutions reassured, and the 
blessings of Union and Liberty secured to ourselves and our posterity. 



SPEECH 



AT THE MERCHAJNTS' MEETING IN WALL STREET, NEW YORK, 

SEPTEMBER 28, 1840. 



I AM duly sensible, fellow-citizens, both of the honor, and of the 
responsibility, of the present occasion: an honor it certainly is, to 
be requested to address a body of Merchants, such as I behold before 
me, as intelligent, as enterprising, and respectable, as any in the 
world. A responsible undertaking it is, to address such an assem- 
bly, and on a subject which many of you understand scientifically, 
and in its elements at least as well as 1 do, and with which most of 
you have more or less of practical acquaintance. The currency 
of a country is a subject always important, and in some measure 
complex ; but it has become the great leading question of our time. 
I have not shrunk from the expression of my opinions, since I have 
been in public life, nor shall I now, especially since on this question 
another great political question seems likely to tui'n, viz., the ques- 
tion whether one Administration is about to go out of power, and 
another Administration to come into power. Under this state of 
cii'cumstances, it becomes me to premise what I have now to say, 
by remarking, in the first place, that I propose to speak for nobody 
but myself. My general opinions on the subject of the currency 
have been well known ; and as it has now become higlily probable 
that those who have opposed all that has recently been done by the 
Government on that subject, will be called on to propose some reme- 
dies of their own for the existing state of things, it is the more incum- 
bent on me to notify to all who hear me, that what I now say, I say 
for myself alone ; for, in regard to the sentiments of the distinguished 
individual whom it is your purpose to support as a candidate for the 
Presidency, I have no more authority to speak than any of your- 
selves, nor any means of knowing his opinions more than is pos- 
sessed by you, and by all the country. 

I will, in die first place, state a few general propositions, which 1 
believe to be founded on true principles of good, practical political 
economy, as understood in their application to the condition of a 
country like oure. 

And first ; I hold the opinion that a mixed currency, composed 
pardy of gold and silver, and partly of good paper, redeemable, and 
steadily redeemed in specie, on demand, is the most useful and con- 

508 



509 

vcnient for such a country as that we inhabit, and is sure to con- 
tinue to be used, to a greater or less extent, in these United States ; 
the idea of an exclusive metallic currency being either the mere 
fancy of theorists, or, what is probably more true, being employed 
as a means of popular delusion. 

I believe, in the next place, that the management of a mixed cur- 
rency, such as I have mentioned, has its difficulties, and requires con- 
siderable skill and care ; and this position is as true, in respect to 
England, the greatest commercial country of Europe, as it is of the 
United States. I believe, further, that there is danger of expan- 
sion and of contraction, both sudden in their recurrence, in the use 
of such a currency ; yet I believe that, where a currency altogether 
metallic exists, as it does in Cuba, and in other countries where 
metallic coin is most in use, as in France, there are fluctuations in 
prices, there are disasters and commercial failures, occurring per- 
haps nearly as often, and perhaps as bad in their character, as in 
countries where a well-regulated paper currency exists. 

In the next place, I hold that the regulation of the currency, 
whether metallic or paper — that a just and safe supervision over that 
which virtually performs the office of money, and constitutes the 
medium of exchange, whatever it may be — necessarily pertains to 
Government — diat it is one of the necessary and indispensable pre- 
rogatives of Government. 

Every bank, as banks are now constituted in this country, per- 
forms two distinct offices or flinctions : first, it discounts bills and 
notes. This is a mere matter of the lending of money, and may be 
performed by corporations, or by individuals, by banks without 
circulation, acting as banks of discount merely, (although, in this 
country, our banks are all banks of circulation, issuing paper with an 
express view to circulation.) When such a bank discounts notes, it 
pays the amount of discount in its own bills, and thereby adds so 
much to the actual amount of circulation, every such operation 
being, by so much, an increase of the circulating medium of the 
country. Hence it is true that, in the absence of all Government 
control and supervision, the wisdom and discretion regulating the 
amount of money afloat at any time in die community, is but the 
aggregate of the wisdom and discretion of all the banks collectively 
considered ; each individual bank acting from the promptings of its 
own interest, without concert with others, and not from any sense 
of public duty. In my judgment, such a regulator, or such a mode 
of regulating the currency, and of deciding what shall be the amount 
of money at any time existing in the community, is unsafe and 
untrustworthy, and is one to which we never can look to guard us 
against these excessive expansions and contractions, which have 
been the source of such injurious consequences. Hence arises my 
view of the duty of Government to take the care and control of the 



510 

issues of these local Institutions, and thereby to guard the com- 
munity against the evils of an excessive circulation. I am of 
opinion, that the Government may estabHsh such a control and 
supervision as shall accomplish these purposes in two ways ; and 
first, by restraining the issues of the local banks. You all know, 
and from experience, perfectly well, that a general institution for 
the circulation of a currency, which shall be as good in one part of 
the country as in another, if it shall possess a competent capital, 
and shall be empowered to act as the fiscal agent of the Government, 
is capable of controlling excessive issues, and keeping the bank 
paper in circulation in a community within reasonable limits. Such 
an institution acts beneficially, too, by supplying a currency which 
is of general credit, and uniform in value throughout the country. 

This brings us to the point. What we need, and what we must 
have, is some currency which shall be equally acceptable in the 
Gulf of Mexico, in the Valley of the Mississippi, on the Canada 
frontier, on the Atlantic Ocean, and in every town, village, and 
hamlet, of our extended land. The question is, hoiv to get this. 
Now, it seems to me that that question is to be answered by 
a plain reference to the condition of the country, to the form of 
its Government, and to the objects for which the General Gov- 
ernment was constituted. Why is it that no State bank paper, 
however secure, under institutions however respectable, in cities 
however wealthy, and with a capital however ample, has ever suc- 
ceeded, but has uniformly failed to give a national character to the 
currency ? The cause of this is obvious. We live imder a Govern- 
ment which makes us, in many important respects, one people, and 
which does this, and was intended to do it, especially, in whatever 
relates to the commerce of the country. Yet the nation exists in 
twenty-six distinct and sovereign States, extending over a space as 
wide almost as the greatest empires of Europe. In this state of things, 
every man knows, and is bound to know, two governments ; first, 
the government of his own State. If that State has estabhshed 
banks, he knows, and is bound to know, on what principles these 
banks have been established, whether they are safe, as objects of 
credit, and whether the laws of their administration are wise. Gen- 
erally speaking, these State institutions — I refer now more partic- 
ularly to those in the central, and in the northern and eastern sec- 
tions of the Union, because with these I am best acquainted — 
enjoy the confidence of the people of the several States where they 
exist. Their issues are in general well received, not only in the 
States where the banks are established, but frequently also in the 
neighboring States. Every citizen is also bound, in like manner, to 
know the laws of the General Government, the security of the insti- 
tutions it has founded, and their general character ; and since this is 
a national subject, over which the General Government acts as such, 



511 

he regards Its acts and provisions as of a national character. Every 
man looks to Institutions founded by Congress as emanating from the 
National Government, a Government which he knows, and which, to 
a certain extent, he himself influences, by the exercise of the elec- 
tive franchise, and in which It Is his duty, as a good citizen, to cor- 
rect, so far as in his power, whatever may be amiss. He has con- 
fidence, therefore, in the National Government, and in the institutions 
It sanctions, as in something of his own ; but the case is very differ- 
ent when he is called to take the paper of banks chartered by a dis- 
tant State, over which he has no control, respecting which he has 
little personal knowledge, and of whose institutions he knows not 
whether they are well or ill founded, or well or 111 administered. 

In exemphfication of this, if you take a note of one of the best 
banks in the city of New York, rich as this city Is, and place upon 
it forty endorsements of the most substantial mercantile houses, and 
then carry that note to the frontier, and read it to the people there, 
such is the nature of man, and such is his habit of looking to the 
nation for that medium which Is to circulate through the nation, 
that you cannot get that New York note, with all Its endorsements, 
to circulate there as national money. Can I give a stronger proof 
of the truth of this assertion than is found In a fact which you all 
know? Your city banks pay specie; the banks of Philadelphia 
and the Bank of the United Slates do not pay specie, and their 
paper Is consequently at a discount here of three, and I believe of 
five per cent. But how is it on the frontier ? I undertake to say 
that you may go to Arkansas, or Missouri, with a note of the specie- 
paying banks of New York, and with another of the non-specie- 
paying Bank of the United States, and the latter shall be preferred. 
And why ? Because it is In the name of Its national predecessor. 
There Is an odor of naiionaJity which hangs around It, and clings 
to it, and is long in being separated from it. 

In the next place, my opinion Is, that a currency emanating 
partly from a national authority as broad In Its origin as the whole 
country, and partly from local banks organized as our banks now 
are, and issuing paper for local circulation, is a better currency for 
the whole people than ever before existed In the world. Each of 
these classes of Institutions, and each of these kinds of currency, has 
its own proper use and value. I affirm that the banking institutions 
of New York, and of New England, are organized on better prin- 
ciples than the Joint Stock Companies of Great Britain ; and I hold 
that we are competent, with a tolerable Intellect, and with an honest 
purpose, to e'stablish a national Institution, which shall act with less 
fluctuation than is experienced in England under the Bank of 
England. 

Now, Gentlemen, I do not at all mean to say that there Is only 
one mode, or two modes, of accomplishing this great national object. 



512 

I do not say that a National Bank is the only means to effect it ; 
but in my judgment, it is indisputably true, that the currency should, 
in some degree, or in some portion of it, be nationalized in its 
character. This is indispensable to the great ends of circulation and 
of business in these United States. 

But I shall be asked, (and it is a pertinent question,) if there is to 
be a national institution, or if we are in any form to have national 
issues of bank paper, what security is there, or is there any security, 
that these national institutions shall not run to an excess in their 
issues of paper? Who is to guard the guardian ? Who is to watch 
the sentinel ? The last twenty years have been fruitful in experience 
on this subject, both in the United States and in England. In that 
time, the world has learnt much. I may say that we have learnt 
much ; for our own experience has been our instructor ; and I think 
that there are modes by which banking institutions may be so far 
restricted as to give us reasonable security against excessive issues. 

From whatever source these institutions may emanate, the first 
security is to be found in entire publicity as to the amount of paper 
afloat. There is more in this than is sometimes supposed. It should 
be known to the whole community, from day to day, what is the 
actual amount of paper in circulation. When prices rise or fall, a 
merchant has a right to know whether the change of price springs 
from change in demand, or merely from change in the amount of 
money in circulation ; and, therefore, the first duty of a banking 
institution is, to make it universally known, by a daily or a weekly 
publication, what amount of paper it has out. See what benefits 
would arise from such an arrangement, and that in a thousand ways. 
If the bank should thus make its issues public, those who control its 
affairs would be bound to respect public opinion, and the bank, 
while it controlled what is under it, would itself be controlled by 
something above it ; and thus public opinion would be brought to 
regulate the regulator, and to watch the sentinel. 

Then, again, if the Government should act in this matter, what it 
does should rather be done in reference to the function of issue, in 
such an institution, than with a view to make it a money-getting 
concern ; and that no temptation should lead the bank to excess, 
there ought to be a limit to the extent of its dividends ; all receipts 
for discount, beyond that point, not going into the private crib, but 
into the public treasury. Then there is another error, which has been 
common with the Bank of England. If you look at the mondily 
accounts which it has published of its affairs, it will at once appear 
that its directors seem to have judged of the condition of the 
institution by the amount of its circulation, compared with its assets, 
including securities, as well as bullion. They look chiefly to the 
amount payable and the amount receivable. As a mere lender of 
money, this is all very well ; but if the bank is to act in regulating 



513 

the circulation, it is an incorrect mode of stating the account ; but 
adiniuing tlie object to be lo keep its paper redeemable, and to 
exercise a general regulation, the true point of examination would be 
to see what proportion exists between the outstanding paper and 
the inlying bullion. The bank may be very rich, but she may 
expect her resources from the payment of the securities she holds. 
This may be all very well, as a means to show that she is solvent; 
but it is not the inquiry that belongs to her, as the source and pre- 
server of a sound circulating medium. 

I know very well that there are objections to the fixing of a pos- 
itive limit for circulation. But until such limit can safely be dis- 
pensed with, it may be best to make it positive. When an institu- 
tion has acquired general confidence, and there is no danger of a 
sudden and extensive panic in relation to it, it is in the power of 
such an institution, in case local panics should occur, to relieve the 
community, by that vibration in the amount of outstanding circula- 
tion, which discreet men may be trusted to regulate. Still I am of 
opinion that there ouglit to be a fixed limit, from which the bank 
should never depart. 

Now, I have not said, nor do I mean to say, that one or the 
other mode of accomplishing this great and desirable object is indis- 
pensable ; but I affirm that, in his communication to Congress vetoing 
the bill to renew the charter of the United States Bank, President 
Jackson did say that, if he were applied to, he could furnish a plan 
for a United States Bank, which would be adequate to all the 
purposes of such an institution, and should yet be constitutional. 
Therefore, the thing is practicable, provided we, of this generation, 
can accomplish that \Vhich President Jackson said he could accom- 
plish. 

PSow, Gentlemen, I have only stated what I receive as general 
principles, which the experience of the world has established on the 
subject of currency and a paper currency. But all we can say is, 
that it seems the existing Administration will do nodiing of all this 
which 1 have stated as necessary to be done. They have done 
nothing to nationalize the currency in any degree ; and so long as 
the Govtinment holds to that determination, there never will be in 
this country a currency of uniform value. That brings me to this 
inquiry : Is the Administration settled on the ground it has repeat- 
edly avowed, and has for three years adhered to in practice, never 
lo give us this uniform currency ? That is the question. The Ad- 
ministration will not go back to the policy sanctioned by forty years 
of prosperity. It will riot trust the State banks. It will do noth- 
ing ; and it will do nothing on principle ; for Mr. Van Buren holds 
that die Constitution gives Congress no power to do any thing in the 
matter. Now, I said at the time this assertion was uttered, and I 
still say, that I am hardly able to express the astonishment 1 feel 
VOL. III. 65 



514 

at what would seem the presumptuousness of such a position ; 
because, from the very cradle of the Government, from tiie very 
commencement of its existence, those men who made the Constitu- 
tion, who recommended it to the people, who procured its adoption, 
and who then undertook its administration, all approved that policy 
which is thus pronounced unconstitutional. It was followed for 
forty years by every Congress, and by every President, and its con- 
stitutionality was affirmed and sanctioned by the highest judicial 
tribunals. And yet here a gendeman stands up, at half a century's 
distance, and disregarding all this legislaUve, executive, and judi- 
cial authority, says, " I am wiser than all of them, and I aver there 
is no such power in the Constitution." 

The President says, " The people have decided this : " but where 
did they so decide, and when? Why, he says, that General Jack- 
son declared the bank to be unconstitutional, and then the peo])le 
reelected him; but I have told you what General Jackson did 
declare. He said that a National Bank might be established, 
which would not be unconstitutional ; although he held the partic- 
ular bank then in existence to be against the Constitution. Now, 
if the people reelected him after this declaration, why is it not just 
as fair to infer that they did so because he uttered this opinion — • 
because he said that there might be a National Bank, and the Con- 
stitution still be preserved inviolate? No, Gendemen ; the truth is, 
that General Jackson was reelected, not because he vetoed the 
Bank of the United States, but notwithstanding he vetoed it. 
It was the general popularity of General Jackson, and that para- 
mount ascendency by which he ruled the party that placed him 
in power, and made it bend and bow to his own pleasure, that 
carried him again into office. To say that the constitutional power 
of creating a National Bank, and regulating the national currency, 
was repudiated by the people, is a glaring instance of false reason- 
ing and false philosophy. Nay, the President goes farther, and 
says, he was himself against the bank, and the people elected Jam 
too for that reason. 1 do not say what actuated the people in his 
elecdon ; but this I will say, that if any man ever came into office 
by virtue, and under power, of will and testament, it is that same 
gendeman. I insist that no evidence can be produced that the 
American people have ever repudiated die doctrines of Washington, 
and condemned and rejected the decisions of their own highest judi- 
cial tribunals. 

Now, we must decide on these quesdons as men having a deep 
personal interest in them. Do you go to authority ? Do you appeal 
to Madison ? You may quote Mr. Madison's opinion from morning 
till noon, and from noon to night, on the longest day in summer, and 
you cannot get from the friends of the Administration one particle of 
answer. I have again and again read, in my place in the Senate, 



615 

Mr. Madison's doctrine, that it is the duty of Government to estab- 
Hsh a national currency. I have shown that Mr. ^Madison urges 
this with the utmost earnestness and solemnity. They say nothing 
against it, save that Mr. Van Buren, having expressed a different 
opinion, got in at the last election. 

Now, when the National Bank was destroyed, or rather when its 
charter expired, and was not renewed, in consequence of the Exec- 
utive Veto, what followed ? 1 say that the Government then put 
the entire business of this country, its commercial, its manufacturing, 
its shipping interest, its fisheries, — in a word, all that the people 
possessed, — on the tenterhooks of experiment ; it put to the stretch 
every interest of the nation ; it held them up, and tried curious 
devices upon them, just as if the institutions of our country were 
things not to be cherished and fostered with the most solicitous 
anxiety and care, but matters for political philosophers to try ex- 
periments upon. I need not remind you that General Jackson 
said he could give the country a better currency ; that he took 
the national treasure from w^iere it had been deposited by Congress, 
to place it in the State banks ; and that Congress, by subsequent 
legislation, legalized the transfer, under the assurance that it would 
work well for the country. Yet I may be permitted to remind 
you that there were some of us, who, from the first, declared that 
these State banks never could perform the duties of a national 
institution ; that the functions of such an institution were beyond 
their scope, without the range of their powers ; that they were, 
after all, but small arms, and not artillery, and could not reach an 
object so distant. The State bank system exploded ; but the Ad- 
ministration did not expect it to explode. At that day, they no 
more looked to the sub-Treasury scheme, than they looked for an 
eclipse, (and they did not then expect an eclipse half as much as 
they do just now.) When the United States Bank was over- 
thrown, they turned, as the next expedient, to the State insti- 
tutions ; and they had full confidence in them, for confidence is 
a quality in which experimenters are seldom found wanting ; but 
the expedient failed — the banks exploded ; and what then ? 

Why, in the speech delivered in this place, by one of the ablest 
advocates of the measures of the Administration, Mr. Wright said, 
What could you expect ? What could Mr. Van Buren do ? lie could 
not adopt a National Bank, because he had declared himself opposed 
to it. He could not rely on the State banks, for they had crumbled 
to pieces. What, then, could he do, but recommend the sub-Treas- 
ury? What does this show, but that the Government, as I have 
said, had departed from the jirinciples of the approved policy of 
forty years of national prosperity, and had put itself in such a situa- 
tion that it could not aid the country in any way ? Mr. Van Buren 
would not retract his opinion against the bank, (although he could 



616 

retract his opinion against the State Bank Deposit System, fast 
enough,) but he wouki not retract the position he had taken against 
the National Bank. The State banks had failed him ; and he was 
driven, as his only refuge, to the suggestion of withdrawing all care 
over the national currency from the National Government, and con- 
fining the solicitude of Government to itself alone. But how far 
did he carry this doctrine ? Look at the draft of the first sub-Treas- 
ury bill. Does it contain a specie clause? No such thing! It 
is a mere regulator of the revenue on the principles of the resolu- 
tion of 1816. But what happened next? This bill was like to 
fail in the Senate for want of votes. There was a certain division 
in that body, at the head of which stood Mr. Calhoun, whose aid 
was indispensable to carry the measure, but who would not vote for 
it, unless the hard money clause should be inserted. It was inserted 
accordingly ; and then the friends of the Administration, for the 
first time, shouted in all quarters, " Hard Money ! " " Hard Mon- 
ey ! " " Hard Money ! " 

By this hard necessity, the Administration was driven to a 
measure which it had no more expected than you expect to see 
your houses on fire to-night. But such are the expedients, the 
miserable expedients, of a baffled and despairing Administration, on 
which they have thrown themselves as a last resort, always hoping, 
and always deceived, and plunging deeper and deeper at every 
new effort. 

I have said, — and it may be proper enough, and Involve no great 
self-complacency to say it, — that there were some of us who never 
ceased to warn the Government and the nation, that the deposit 
system must explode, as it has exploded. But what was our 
reward ? What was the boon conferred upon us, for thus ap- 
prizing the Administration of its danger? We were denounced as 
enemies to State banks, as opposed to State institutions, as anti- 
State-rights men, whom nothing would satisfy, but the spectacle of 
a great national institution, riding over and treading down the insti- 
tutions of the States. 

But what happened ? The whole State bank experiment, as I 
have said, utterly failed ; and what did gentlemen of the Adminis- 
tration do then ? They instantly turned about, and with the 
utmost outrage of remark, reviled the banks which their experiment 
had crushed." They were vile, corrupt, faithless, treacherous insti- 
tutions, leagued from the very beginning with the opposition, and 
not much better than British Whigs ! And when we, who had 
opposed the placing of the national treasure in these banks, 
declared that they had failed only because they were applied 
to a purpose for which they never were calculated, and had perished 
in consequence of a rash and unwise experiment, we were Instantly 
told, "You are Bank Aristocrats; you are leagued with a thousand 



517 

corrupt banks, and are seeking, by tbe power of Britisb Gold, to 
destroy the purest Administration that ever breatlied the air of 
heaven ! " Thus, when we said that State banks, though good 
for some purposes, were not good as a substitute for a National 
Bank, then we were denounced as the enemies of banks ; but when 
we wished to shield these same banks from misapplied censure, and 
protect them from being totally destroyed by acts of bankruptcy, 
then we were reviled as " Bank Aristocrats." 

Now I ask you, gendemen, as Merchants, v.hat confidence can 
you place in such an Administration ? Do you see any thing that 
they are disposed to do to restore the times you once enjoyed ? 
(Loud cries of " No," " No.") I perceive that your opinion 
corresponds with my own, and that you cannot lend your sup- 
port to men who turn their backs on the experience, the inter- 
ests, and the institutions, of their country, and who openly declare 
that they will not exercise the powers which have been conferred 
on them for the public good. 

Now, Gentlemen, I will observe to you further, that it appears to 
me, that this Administration has treated the States, in reference to 
their own aftairs, just as it has treated the State banks. It has first 
involved them in the evils of extravagance, (if any extravagance 
exists,) and has then abused them for the very thing to which its 
own course has strongly invited them. Commencing with the Mes- 
sages of Mr. Van Buren himself, and then looking at the reports of 
his Secretaries, and the resolutions and speeches of Mr, Benton and 
Mr. Grundy, in the Senate, and at the outcry of the whole Adtnin- 
istration press, there appears to be a systematic attempt to depress 
the character and credit of the States. It is every where said, that 
"the States have been rash and extravagant;" "the States will 
yet have to repent of their railroads and canals, and projects of 
internal improvements." This is the burden of the President's 
Message,, of the reports of his Secretaries, and the resolutions of his 
friends. Now, I solemnly ask, is not the tendency of such a course 
of measures virtually to atFect the credit of the States that have out- 
standing bonds and obligations in the market ? 

Let us look into this matter a litde. Let us see under what cir- 
cumstances it was that the States were induced to contract these 
large debts which now embarrass them. And here let me call your 
attention to a few facts, dates, and figures. And first; I now here 
to-day, in your presence, charge upon the Administration of the 
General Government those great expansions of paper money, and 
sudden contractions, both of which have so deranged our affaii-s. 
1 propose to prove the charge ; and with that view now proceed to 
lay before you facts, and dates, and transactions, which must carry 
conviction to eveiy honest and candid mind. 

Let us go back to the year 1832, when it was perfectly settled 

RR 



518 

by the Veto of President Jackson, that the Bank of the United 
States would not be rechartered. Suppose we take a series of 
years by tens, and trace the history of the creation of State banks 
in this country. From 1820 to 1830, a period of ten years, there 
were created in the United States twenty-two new banks; and their 
creation added to the banking capital of the country but eight mil- 
lions of dollars. During this period, the Bank of the United States 
was in full operation, and nobody entertained a doubt but that it 
would be continued. How was it in the next ten years ? From 
1830 to 1840, the increase of banks, instead of twenty-two, as in 
the preceding ten years, was three hundred and forty-eight ; and 
the increase of banking capital, instead of eight millions, amounted 
to two hundred and sixty-eight millions. Such has been the prog- 
ress of bank expansion, during the charming, the successful years 
of the experiment. But further; not only was there this great 
augmentation in the number, and in the capital, of the banks, but 
the extraordinary proceeding followed of the removal of the deposits 
in 1833. In consequence of this, it was by the Government de- 
clared to be the duty of all its deposit banks to lend the public 
money freely to the commercial community. The Secretary of the 
Treasury, in his circular, issued, I think, in September, 1833, told 
these institutions expressly, that it was their duty to discount freely, 
and laid it down as a maxim, that the money of the Government, 
between the periods of its collection and disbursement, ought .to be 
at the use of the community. I remember, indeed, to have heard 
it said by the cashier of one of the banks in this street, that " he 
hardly knew what to do, for he was ordered to lend more of 
the public money than he could get security for." It is from 
this increase of banks, and this increase of issues, and from this 
alone, that the expansion so injurious to the country really sprang. 

I know it may be said that there were expansions and contrac- 
tions during the existence of the Bank of the United States. This 
I do not deny. The administration of that institution, I admit, was 
not always perfect; but I say, taking the whole period, of near half 
a century, during the existence of such a bank, the country was 
freer from violent and sudden extremes of contraction and expan- 
sion than it has ever been since that time. Why will not a fair 
reasoner draw his conclusions from the entire history of his country 
as a whole ? In his late speech from this place, Mr. Wright said 
he would not look back to the history of the first Bank of the 
United States : he said that, under the second National Bank, there 
were great evils ; but did he deny that, taking the whole forty 
years together, the country was less liable to fluctuations than it 
has since been ? Not at all. Well, in the midst of this great ex- 
pansion of banks and banking capital came the Specie Circular, 
whose tendency was to produce, and which did in fact produce, 



519 

great and sudden contractions. This violent action and reaction, 
superinduced on a previous state of pecuniary expansion, is fairly 
chargeable to the Administration itself, and is to be traced to the 
action of the Government, more than to all other causes. 

But to return. How does it stand with respect to the States? 
Under what patronage, and at wliose recommendation, did they 
contract the large and onerous debt of two hundred millions of 
dollars ? Who induced this ? Under what circumstances at home 
was it done? From 1820 to 1S25, tlie aggregate of State debts 
amounted to twelve or thirteen milHons. From 1825 to 1830j it 
stood at thirteen millions ; but during the period from 1830 to 
1835, it rose to forty millions. The effect of the increase of circu- 
lation did not begin fairly to develop itself in the country till 1834 
and 1835. Then tlie State debts w ere augmented to forty n)illions ; 
and between 1835 and 1840, they rose to one hundred millions. 

It appears, from tables supposed to be accurately compiled, that 
the amount of stock issued by the several States, for each period of 
five years, since 1820, is as follows, viz. : — 

From 1820—1825, somewhat over 12,000,000 ; 
1825—1830, " " 13,000,000; 

1830—1835, « " 40,000,000; 

1835-1840, " " 109,000,000; — 

of which amount of one hundred and nine millions, nearly the 
whole was issued during 1835 and 1836, and part of 1837 ; that is 
to say, in the most palmy time of the Experiment. 

So it appears that these " extravagant " State debts were con- 
tracted when the currency was most redundant ; when the States, 
in common with all the country, were urged, and goaded, and 
lashed on to borrow ; and when all sorts of extravagant hopes and 
schemes were indulged among the people. To this very redun- 
dancy, thus caused by the Government itself, in the vast multiplica- 
tion of banks, and the free extension of loans, are to be traced these 
rasli engagecnents of the States, for which they have been reviled 
in all quarters, from the head of the Government down to its lowest 
agency- There were one hundred millions of debts created in 
1835 and 1836, in the very midst of the glow and flow of the 
deposit system. It was in these very years, distinguislied, as the 
Administration say, for prudence and public prosperity, that the 
creation of the State debts kept pace with the bank creation and 
accommodation. The bank creation and accommodation kept pace 
with the Government experiment, and the Government experiment 
kept pace with the most rapid delusion which ever characterized 
any administration upon earth, or ever carried away an intelligent 
people. 



520 

And now I am on this subject, I must say a word or two on 
another topic, which it naturally suggests. One of tlie charges of 
the day is, that the opposition to tlie Administration lias come out 
with a project for the assumption of all these State debts by the 
General Government. This charge was broached as a subject of 
attack on the Whigs in the Senate, early in the last session. Let 
us look a little into facts. I have said that the General Government 
encouraged the States to contract debts by making the currency 
plentiful ; but they have also done this in another manner. It has 
been one of the favorite projects of the Administration, since the 
removal of the deposits, to vest the surplus revenue, and the in- 
creased funds of the United States, in State bonds. I do not say 
this is an assumption of the State debts, but I do say that the Gen- 
eral Government did encourage the States to issue bonds, and did 
endeavor to give them all the credit it could. 

In 1836, the project was taken up of distributing the surplus 
revenue among the States. This was not, indeed, a favorite 
measure of the leading men of the Administration, but was carried 
rather against their wishes. In May of that year, it was moved by 
Mr. Wright, of New York, then and now a prominent leader of the 
Administration party in the Senate, that this surplus should be 
vested in State stocks, and that whenever any further surplus 
might occur, it should be vested in the same manner. When the 
bill to regulate the State banks was under consideration, and a 
thirteenth section was proposed, distributing the 40,000,000 surplus 
among the States, Mr. Wright moved to strike out that provision, 
and to insert, in lieu of it, another clause, vesting the whole of the 
money in State bonds. And again, when the first sub-Treasury 
bill was brought forward, the same gentleman tacked on it a pro- 
vision, that the surplus amounts in the Treasury should be vested 
in State bonds. And finally there were other sums, which we held 
in trust, from the sale of Indian lands, for the payment of Indian 
annuities, as well as the Smithsonian legacy, which were also 
authorized to be held in State bonds. I say, therefore, that so long 
as the contraction of those State debts was favorable to the Admin- 
istration, they were the foremost of all men in fostering State credits, 
and in encouraging the States to enlarge their liabilities. For my 
associate, Mr. Wiight, declared " that he would undertake to say, 
that he was not afraid to recommend such an investment of the 
national funds, as the States would issue as many honds as the Gov- 
ernment mh>ht choose to buy! " 

But now, after all this, these same gentlemen, overreaching the 
whole intervening period, and going back to the beginning, reproach 
and criminate the States, from the very outset, for contracting the 
engagements to which the Government itself incited them. I do not 
say that this was an assumption of the State debts, but it certainly 



521 

was holding them up to Europe and the world as worthy of confi- 
dence, so long as it suited the purposes of the Administration so to 
do. And very pretty purposes it would have answered in view of 
the coming election, had they succeeded in their object, and the 
Secretary of the Treasury been vested with unlimited discretion to 
purchase State bonds at his pleasure. Suppose such a power now 
existed, and Mr. Woodbury, conscientious and scrupulous as he is 
known to be, was asked by us of Massachusetts, for instance, or 
had lately been asked by our good sister of Maine, to vest money 
in State bonds ; how do you tliink the money would have been 
applied ? No doubt it would have been given freely to the 
patriotic States, but as carefully withheld from tliose not deemed 
vvordiy of that title. 

l^or this declaration, that the Whigs in Congress are in favor of 
the assumption of the State debts by the General Government, there 
exists not one p^article of proof, nor the least possible foundation. 
I do not myself know a single man in Congress, who holds the 
opinion that the General Government has any more right to pay the 
debts of a State, than it has to pay the debts of a private individual. 
Congress might as well undertake to pay the debts of John Jacob 
Astor, as of the State of New York. I exempt, however, from 
these remarks, the distribution among the States of the proceeds of 
the public lands, and their application to pay the debts of the States, 
should the States choose so to apply the money. But I say there is 
no foundation whatever for such a plan of assumption as Mr. Ben- 
ton and Mr. Grundy have so zealously declaimed against in the 
United States Senate. 

You have all heard in the public papers (and it is one of the 
most despicable of all the inventions of the enemy) that transactions 
took place, in which I had a part, the object of which was to per- 
suade Congress to assume the State obligations, and that I went to 
England for the worthy purpose of furthering such a design. 
Now, as I am among you this day, as among my friends, I will 
tell you all about it. I left this country in May, 1839. At 
that time 1 had neither read nor heard from living man of any 
such design. I went to England, and I must be permitted to 
say that it was a most gloomy time, so far as American securities 
in general, and the State debts in particular, were concerned. 
But 1 declare to you on my honor, that no European banker 
or foreign holder of State securities ever suggested to me, in the 
remotest manner, the least notion of the assumption of tlie State 
debts by the General Government. Once, indeed, I did hear the 
idea started by an American citizen ; but I immediately told him 
that such a thing was wholly unconstitutional, and never could be 
effected, unless the people should adopt a new constitution. It was 
quite natural that 1 should be applied to in reference to the State 

VOL. III. 66 RR* 



522 

debts. The State to which I belong had sent out some stock to 
England to be sold, and so, I believe, had the State of New York. 
We heard, continually, the most gloomy accounts from the United 
States; and, in fact, this very thing was, to use a common expres- 
sion, a great damper to my enjoyment while abroad. People fre- 
quently applied to me to know what security there was, tlrat the 
American debts would be finally paid, and the interest, in the mean 
time, regularly discharged. I told them they might rely on the 
plighted faith of the States, and their ability to redeem their obliga- 
tions. Nobody asked me whether there could be a United States 
guaranty to that effect, nor did I suggest such an idea to any one. 
Gentlemen came to me to ask about the Massachusetts bonds. They 
liked the offer of five per cent, interest very inuch, as this was high 
for an English capitalist ; but they wanted to know what assurance 
I could give that the investment would be a safe one. 1 went to 
my trunk, and took out an abstract of the official return of the 
amount of the productive labor of Massachusetts. I put this into 
the hand of one of those inquirers, and told him to take it home and 
study it. He did so, and in two days returned, and invested forty 
thousand pounds sterling in Massachusetts stock. Others came, 
and made similar inquiries as to New lork securities. I gave 
them a copy of the very able and admirable Report made by your 
townsman, Mr. Ruggles, in 1838, and they came back satisfied. 
But to none did I suggest, or in the remotest manner hint, that they 
could look to the United States to secure the debt. I endeavored 
to uphold the credit of all the States. I remembered that they were 
all my countrymen, and I stated facts in relation to each, as favor- 
ably as truth would allow. And what happened then? Gentle- 
men, it is fit that you should know that there exists a certain clique 
in London, who are animated by an unextinguishable hate of 
American credit. You may set it down as a fact that it is their 
daily, their incessant, vocation, to endeavor to impair the credit of 
every one of the States, and to represent the purchase of their bonds 
as an unwise and dangerous investment of money. On this sub- 
ject their ferocity knows no mitigation : it is deaf to all justice, and 
proof against all reason. The more you show them it is wrong, 
the more tenacity of purpose do they exhibit. That part of the 
public press over which they have control is furnished, I am ashamed 
to say, with matter drawn from publications which originated in this 
city, and the object of which is to prove, that State bonds are so 
much waste paper, the State having no right to issue any such 
obligations, their holders being, therefore, utterly destitute of any 
security. And these miserable and contemptible speculations are 
put into the papers of the largest circulation in Europe, and en- 
forced by all the aid they can derive from editorial sanction. It 
was under circumstances like these that a large banking house in 



523 

London put to me, as a lawyer, the professional question, whether 
tlie States were empowered to issue evidences of debt payable by 
the State. I answered that, for this purpose, they were as com- 
pletely sovereign as any state in Europe ; that they had a Public 
Faith to pledge, and did pledge it. This entire correspondence 
was published, (though you might as well get any Administration 
editor in this country to take hold of a pair of hot tongs as to insert 
it In his columns,) in the face of those who have been shouting 
in all quarters, that I had a personal agency In bringing about an 
assumption of State debts by the General Government. 

It so happened, that, in the latter part of October, the house of 
Barings issued a Circular to foreign houses on this subject, which 
Circular I never saw till I arrived in America. In this paper they 
speak of such an assumption or guaranty ; but as it went to foreign 
houses, I never saw, nor did I hear of It till last December, when I 
heard, at the same time, of the proceedings of Mr. Benton. But I 
here wish again to repeat, that during the whole time I was in 
Europe, no English banker or foreign bond-holder ever suggested 
an Idea of such an assumption. The first I heard of it was from an 
American citizen there, and not again till my return to this country. 
1 have said that, owing to the bad news which was constantly 
received from this country, the pleasure of my visit was much 
diminished. I will now say that, during the whole time of my 
absence, I had the lowest hopes, as to the political state of the 
country, which I ever indulged. I saw the fatal workings of the 
experiment, and I saw that nothing wiser or better was in the mind 
of the Administration. And though I knew that a vast majority of 
my countrymen were opposed to the existing policy, yet 1 did not 
see them sufficiently roused, nor had I confidence that they would 
ever come to that cordial union In relation to any one candidate for 
the Presidency, which would enable them, as a party, to take the 
field with any rational hope of success. 

Such were the gloomy feelings wiilch possessed my mind, when 
I first learned the result of the Harrlsburgh Convention. But 
when I saw a nomination which, thou'i-h unwelcome at first 
to many, I thought the best that could possibly have been made, 
and learned that It was fast gaining the approbation of all who 
thought with me ; and above all, when I beheld the warm en- 
thusiasm and the heartfelt union which soon animated their ranks, 
and concentrated their movements, I then began to entertain a con- 
fidence that the hour of deliverance was at hand, and that my long- 
suffering country would yet relieve herself from the disastrous con- 
dition to which she had been reduced. 

After a brief pause, Mr. Webster said, I hope, Gendemen, you 
will not be alarmed, if I take from my notes one more paper. 
I win detain you but a few moments in briefly expressing the opin- 



524 

Ions I entertain In regard to the sub-Treasury. It appears to me 
to be a scheme entirely new to our history, and foreign to our 
habits, and to be the last of a series of baffled experiments, into 
which the representatives of the people have been lashed and 
fatigued by the continued exercise of executive power, through 
four mortal sessions of Congress. 

I will say a word or two in relation to the system under the vari- 
ous aspects in which its friends have supported it. What are the 
arguments in its favor? The leading argument was that of safety 
to the Government. This was a plan to keep the public money 
where rogues could not run away with it. Now, I think there is a 
way to prevent that, which would be much more effectual ; and that 
is, not to trust rogues with the keeping of the public money. 
But as to the notion of better vaults, and more secure, is 
it not the most ridiculous of all humbugs ? I do not know in 
which of the bank vaults around me the receiver-general keeps 
his funds. If they are in a vault different from that which belongs 
to the bank, I will venture to say it is no better and no safer. It 
is said, however, that by this means Government is to keep its own 
money. What does this mean ? Who is that Government? Who 
is that individual " I," who is to keep our money in his own 
pocket ? Is not Government a mere collection of agencies ? Is not 
every dollar it possesses in trust with somebody ? It may be put 
in vaults under a key, but tlie key is given to somebody to keep. 
Government is not a person with pockets. 

The only question is, whetlier the Government agents under the 
sub-Treasury are any safer than the Government agents before it was 
adopted ? Mr. Wright, indeed, has assured us that the agents 
under the sub-Treasury are made responsible to the people. But 
how ? In what respect ? The receiver-general gives bonds, but 
how is he more responsible on that account than the collector in 
another street, who, like him, receives the public money, and like 
him gives bonds for its safe keeping? It is just the same thing. 
One of these officers is just as far from the people, and just as near 
to the people, as the other. How, then, is the receiver-general 
more directly responsible ? There is not a particle of truth or 
reason in the whole matter. If the vaults are not better, is the 
security better ? I have no manner of doubt that the receiver- 
general in this city is a highly respectable man ; but where is the 
proof that the Government money is any safer in his vault than in 
the bank where he has his office ? Suppose Mr. Allen had a private 
office of his own at a distance from the bank, and should give the 
same bonds he now does for the safe keeping of all moneys intrusted 
to him ; how many of you would deposit your private funds in his office, 
rather than in a bank having half a million or a million of dollars 
capital, under the government of directors whose own fortunes 



I 



525 

were dcposiled In its vaults? Try the experiment, and see how 
many would resort to Mr. Allen, and how many to the hanks. 

So far froai being safer, 1 maintain, on the contrary, that this sub- 
Treasur)- scheme jeopards the puhlic money, because it multiplies 
the hands through which it is to pass, and thereby multiplies 
the chances of corruption, or of loss. Your collector, Mr. Hoyt, 
receives the money on duty bonds. He holds it sujjject to the 
draft or order of the Secretary of the Treasury, or else is to pay it 
over to Mr. Allen. If Mr. Hoyt were dishonest, nnight he not 
have shared the money before the receiver-general could get at 
it ? The scheme doubles the chances of loss by doubling the hands 
which are to keep the money. 

But this scheme is to encourage the circulation of specie ! I cer- 
tainly shall not detain you on a matter with which you are more 
funlliar than I am ; but let me ask you a few questions. By one 
clause of the sub-Treasury law, one fourth of all the duties bonded 
is to be paid in specie, and the residue according to the resolution 
of 1816. Now, I want to know one thing ; if one of you has a 
custom-house bond to pay, you go to the collector with a certified 
check, purporting to be payable in specie, for one fourth of the 
amount, and another check, in conunon form, for the other three 
fourths. Does not the collector receive these checks ? That is 
the question I ask you. (Loud cries of " Yes ! " " Yes ! " " He 
does ! " " He does ! ") Well, then, is not all that part of the law, 
which requires the payment of one fourth in specie, a mere sham ? 
If you go to him with a draft, and demand specie, he will, no doubt, 
give it to you, if you request it ; but if not, he gives you good notes. 
^Vhere, then, is all this marching and countermarching of specie, 
which was to gladden our eyes? Is it not all humbug? What 
does the collector do with the money when he gets it? Does 
he not deposit it in a bank of a very unsavory name ? I do not 
certainly know, but I believe he deposits it in the Bank of the 
United States. He afterwards pays it over to the receiver-general, 
and gives him all the specie he wants ; and yet, after all, there is 
no general use of specie in the matter. 

They speak about a divorce between Bank and State; and what 
does it amount to ? I ask you, Is not the great amount of Govern- 
ment funds at this moment in safe keeping in some bank ? I believe 
it is. Then there is no separation. The Government gives the 
money to individuals to keep, and diey, like sensible men, put it 
into bank. Is this separation ? If any change is made in the con- 
nection, it is to render it more close ; and, like other illicit connec- 
tions, the closer it is, the more secret it is kept. 

It is called the " Independent Treasury," and some of its friends 
have called it " a second Declaration of Independence." Independ- 
ence 1 how ? of what ? It is dependent on individuals, who imme- 



526 

diately go to the bank ; and is it to be tolerated that there should 
be this outcry about the use of specie, when here, you, in the heart 
of the commercial community, see and know that there is no such 
thing ? 

But though at present this is all sham, yet that power to demand 
specie, which the law contains, when its requirements shall cover 
the whole revenue of the Government, and when that revenue shall 
be large, may, in its exercise, become a most dangerous instrument. 
When Government shall have, in the banks of this city, twelve to 
fifteen millions of dollars on deposit, as it has had, it will be in the 
power of the Government to break down, at its pleasure, one, if not 
all of these institutions. And when you go to the West, where 
the money is received for the public lands, every specie-paying 
bank in the country may, at the mere pleasure of the Government, 
be compelled to shut up its doors. — But this Independent Treas- 
ury is to be independent of the banks! Well, if the sub-Treasury 
law is to be called the second Declaration of Independence, then 
there is a third Declaration of Independence, and that is the Treas- 
ury note law. How marvellously free does that make us of banks ! 
While two millions of these notes, bearing interest, are deposited 
there, — and there, — and there, — in all these banks around me 1 
Deposited ? How deposited ? They are sold — and how sold ? 
They are deposited in these banks, carrying interest, while the bank 
gives the Government authority to draw for money as it shall need. 
Now, I say the bank may make, not a very unreasonable, but a 
very reasonable, amount, by the interest in these notes, before it is 
called on to pay out any of its own money. One of these accounts 
between bank and Government was examined by a friend of mine ; 
I had not myself time to look at it. The bank received Treasury 
notes bearing interest : it passed these to the credit of Government, 
at the nominal amount : the Government was then to draw for 
money as it wanted it ; and, on that single transaction, the bank 
realized between eighty and a hundred thousand dollars in interest. 
Now, this is what I call a third Declaration of Independence 1 
You know, by the Secretary's Report, that the Government has 
already issued nearly the whole of the five millions authorized by 
Congress. Two millions lie in the banks, drawing interest, the 
banks paying Government drafts as they come in. And this is 
setting up for independence of the banks ! 

Again, the fashion now is, since Mr. Calhoun has forced the 
Administration to insert in the law the specie clause, for Govern- 
ment to discredit the use of bank paper whenever it can. That is 
the general tone of the Government communications. They avow 
such to be their object, and I believe them. But who can tell the 
consequence of discrediting bank paper, if our revenues should ever 
agaift become what they have been in times past ? It is a power 



627 

by which Government can break the solvent banks, but can never 
make the insolvent return to their duty. 

But, then, it is said, all this cannot be any great matter, because 
Mv. VVricrht tells us, that, in ordinary times, five millions of dollars 
will perform all the operations of receipt and expenditure. Now, 
that proposition depends upon Mr. Wright's estimate of what the 
expenditure will be. Does he expect to reduce it to the standard 
of Mr. Adams's administration, once denounced as so extravagant ? 
Does he expect to reduce the thirty-nine millions to thirteen mil- 
lions ? or will he go below that ? He does not tell us. For my 
own part, I believe five, or five and a half, millions would be a 
moiety ot the average amount of specie in all the banks in the city. 
You can judge for yourselves what must be the effect of withdraw- 
ing one half of all the specie in these banks, and of locking it up in 
the suh-Treasury vaults. 

But how does all this stand widi Mr. Writjht's main argument ? 
He says that the great object to be efi'ected by the sub-Treasury 
law, is to prevent fluctuations, by preventing the banks from dis- 
counting upon the public money ; but if five millions of dollars 
only are needed for the ordinary Treasury operations, can such a 
sum as this have produced all the fluctuations in the commercial 
community ? Surely not. In his printed speech, he says that the 
chief practical difference produced by the law is, that the money is 
now kept by Mr. Allen, which used to be kept by the Bank of 
America. But is that all ? What, then, becomes of the specie 
clause ? I suppose he Icnows that was all a sham. 

Gentlemen, I will not detain you longer on the practical opera- 
tion of this sub-Treasury scheme. So far as relates to the receipts 
and disbursements of the public treasure, you know better than I. 
A great part of these operations take place in your own city. But 
permit me now to go, for a moment, into the political objection to 
this sub-Treasury scheme ; I mean its utter omission of all concern 
with the general currency of the country. This objection is car- 
dinal and decisive. It is this which has roused the country, and 
which is to decide the fate of the present Administration. But the 
question is so general, it has so long been before the country, and 
so frequently discussed in all quarters, that I will not farther extend 
my remarks in regard to it. 1 believe that the mind of the people 
is now thoroughly awakened, and that the day rapidly approaches 
when their final judgment will be pronounced. 

There is yet one topic on which I must detain you for only a 
moment, and I will then relieve you. We have the good fortune, 
under the blessing of a benign Providence, to live in a country 
which we are proud of for many things — for its independence, for 
its public liberty, for its free institutions, for its public spirit, for its 
enlightened patriotism ; but we are proud also, — and it is among 



528 

those things we should be the most proud of, — we are proud of 
its pubHc justice, of its sound faith, of its substantially correct 
morals in the administration of the Government, and the general 
conduct of the country, since she took her place among the nations 
of the world. But among the events which most threaten our 
character and standing, and which so grossly attach on these 
moral principles that have hitherto distinguished us, are certain 
sentiments which have been broached among us, and, I am sorry to 
say, have more supporters than they ought, because they strike at 
tlie very foundation of the social system. I do not speak especially 
of those which have been promulgated by some person in my own 
State, but of others which go yet deeper into our political condition. 
1 refer to the doctrine that one generation of men, acting under the 
Constitution, cannot bind another generation who are to be their 
successors; on which ground it is held, among other things, that 
State bonds are not obligatory. What ! one generation cannot 
bind another ? Where is the line of separation ? It changes 
hourly. The American community to-day is not the same with 
the American community to-morrow. The community in which I 
began this day to address you, is not the same as it is at this 
moment. 

How abhorrent is such a doctrine to those great tiuths, which 
teach us that, though individuals flourish and decay, states are im- 
mortal — that political communities are ever young, ever green, ever 
flourishing, ever identical ! The individuals who compose them may 
change, as the atoms of our bodies change, but the political com- 
munity still exists in its aggregate capacity, as do our bodies in their 
natural ; with this only difference — that we know that our natural 
frames must soon dissolve, and return to their original dust ; but, for 
our country, she yet lives — she ever dwells on our hearts — and it 
will, even at that solemn moment, go up as our last aspiration to 
Heaven, that she may be immortal. 



SPEECH 



DELIVERED IN THE CAPITOL SQUARE DURIING THE WHIG CON- 
VENTIOxN AT RICHMOND, VIRGINIA, OCTOB^.R 5, 1840 



Virginians : The wisdom of our fathers has established for us a 
Constitution of government which enables me to appear here to-day, 
and to address you as my fellow-citizens ; and half a century of 
experience has shown how useful to our common interest, how 
conducive to our common renown and glory, is that Constitution by 
wliich we have been united. I desire to pay due honor to those 
illustrious men who made us — the children of those who fell at 
Bunker Hill and Yorktown — members of the same political family, 
tied together by the same common destiny, and awaiting the same 
common prosperity, or common adversity, in all time to come. It 
is the extraordinary nature of the times, united with a long-cherished 
desire to visit Virginia, which has occasioned me the pleasure I enjoy 
of being in the midst of you all to-day. I have come more for the 
purpose of seeing and hearing you than of speaking to you myself. 
[ have come to mingle myself among you ; to listen to the words 
of }our wise and patriotic men ; that I may improve my own patri- 
otic feeling by communication with the chivalrous spirits of this 
Ancient Dominion. But, inasmuch as there are, or may be, some 
questions of national policy, or of constitutional power, on which 
you and I differ, there are some amiable persons who are so very 
considerate of your reputation, and of my reputation, as to signify 
that they esteem it a great breach of propriety that you should 
invite me to come here, or that I should accept your invitation. 
Let us hope that these amiable persons will allay their fears. 

If there be any question or questions on which you and I differ 
in opinion, those questions are not to be the topics of discussion 
to-day. No! We are not quite soft enough for that. While in 
the presence of a common enemy, who is armed to the teeth 
against us both, and putting forth as many hands as Briareus 
to destroy what we think it most important to preserve, does he 
imagine that, at such a moment, we shall be carrying on our. family 
controversies? — that we are going to give ourselves those blows 
which are due to him ? No ! Regarding him as the enemy of our 
country, we mean to pursue him till we bring him to capitulation 
VOL. III. 67 ^ s s 



530 

or to flight ; and when we have done that, if there are any dif- 
ferences of opinion among us, we will try to settle them ourselves, 
without his advice or assistance ; and we will settle them in a 
spirit of conciliation and mutual kindness. If we do differ in any of 
our views, we must settle that difference, not in a spirit of exaspera- 
tion, but with moderation — with forbearance — in a spirit of amity 
and brotherhood. 

It is an era in my life to find myself on the soil of Virginia address- 
ing such an assemblage as is now before me : I feel it to be such : 
I deeply feel the responsibility of the part which has this day been 
thrown upon me. But, although it is the first time I have addressed 
an assembly of my fellow-citizens upon the soil of Virginia, I hope 
I am not altogether unacquainted with the history, character, and 
sentiments of this venerable State. The topics which now are agi- 
tating the country, and which have brought us all here to-day, have 
no relation whatever with those in which I differ from the opinions 
she has ever entertained. The orrlevances and the mlsgovernment 
which have roused the country, pertain to that class of subjects 
which especially and peculiarly belong to Virginia, and have from 
the very beginning of our history. I know something of the com- 
munity amidst which I stand — its distinguished and ardent attach- 
ment to civil liberty, and its habit for political disquisition. I know 
that the landholders of Virginia are competent, from their education 
and their leisure, to discuss political questions in their elements, and 
to look at Government in its tendencies, as well as in the measures 
it may at present pursue. There is a sleepless suspicion, a vigilant 
jealousy of power, especially of Executive power, which for three 
quarters of a century has marked the character of the people of the 
Old Dominion ; and if I have any right conception of the evils of the 
time, or of the true objection to the measures of the present Admin- 
istration, it is, that they are of such a kind as to expose them, in an 
especial manner, to that sleepless jealousy, that stern republican 
scrutiny, that acute and astute inspection, which have distinguished 
the present as they have all preceding generations of men in this 
ancient Commonwealth. Allowing this to be so, let me present to 
you my own view of the present aspect of our public affairs. 

In my opinion, a decisive majority of all the People of the United 
States has been, for several years past, opposed to the policy of the 
existing Administration. I shall assume this in what I have further 
to say, because I believe it to be true ; and I believe that events are 
on the wing, and will soon take place, which will proclaim the truth 
of that position, and will show a vote of three fourths of the votes 
of the electoral colleges in favor of a change of men. Taking this, 
for the present, as the true state of political feeling and opinion, I next 
call your attention to the fact of the very extraordinary excite- 
ment, agitation, and I had almost said commotion, which marks the 



531 

present moment throughout every part of the land. Why are these 
vast assemblages every where congregated? Why, for example, am 
I here, five hundred miles from my own place of residence, to address 
such an assembly of Virginians on political subjects ? And why does 
every day, in every State, witness something of a similar kind ? Has 
this ever been the case before ? Certainly not in our time, and once 
only in the time of our fathei-s. There are some present here who 
witnessed, and there are others who have learned from the lips of 
their parents, the state of feeling which existed in 1774 and 1775, 
before the resort to arms was had to effect the objects of the Revo- 
lution. I speak now of the time when Patrick Henry, standing, as 
we now do, in the open air, was addressing the Virginians of that 
day, while, at the same moment, James Otis and his associates were 
making the same rousing appeal to the People of Massachusetts. 
From that time to this there has been nothing in any degree resem- 
bling what we now behold. This general earnestness, this universal 
concern of all men in relation to public affairs, is now witnessed for 
the first time since the Revolution. Do not men abandon their 
fields in the midst of seed-time — do they not leave their vari- 
ous occupations, as you have now done — to attend to matters 
which they deem more important? And is it not so through all 
classes of our citizens all over the whole land ? Now, the important 
question I wish to put is this, — and I put it as a question fit for the 
mind of the statesmen of Virginia, — 1 propose it, with all respect, 
to the deep deliberation and reflection of every patriotic man through- 
out the country ; — it is this : If it be true that a majority of the Peo- 
ple of the United States has, for some years, been opposed in 
sentiment to the policy of the present Administration, why is it 
NECESSARY that thcse extraordinary efforts should be put forth to 
turn that Administration out of power, and to put better men in 
their places ? We inhabit a free country ; — every office of public 
trust is in our own hands, at the disposal of the People's own suf- 
frages ; all public concerns are controlled and managed by them, 
at their own pleasure ; and the trust has always been to the ballot- 
box, as an effectual means to keep die Government at all times in 
conformity with the public will. How, then, has it happened that, 
with all this, such extraordinary efforts have been necessary to put 
out a particular Administration ? Why has it not been done by the 
silent power of the elective franchise ? Why has not the Govern- 
ment been changed both in its policy and in the men who administer 
it? I desire, from the free, the thinking men of Virginia, an answer 
to that question. When the elections are every where showing that 
a large majority of the People is opposed in sentiment to the ex- 
isting Administration, 1 desire them to tell me how that Administra- 
tion has held its place and pursued its own peculiar system of 
measures so long ? 



632 

My answer to my own question is this : In my judgment, it has 
come to be true, in the actual working of our system of Govern- 
ment, that the Executive power has increased its influence and its 
patronage to such a degree that it may counteract the will of a ma- 
jority of the People, and continue to do so until that majority has 
not only become very large, but till it has united in its objects and 
in its candidate, and, by a strenuous^ effort, is enabled to turn the 
Administration out of power. I believe that the patronage of 
the Executive in our Government has increased, is increasing, and 
ought to be diminished. I believe that it does enable the incum- 
bents to resist the public will, until the country is roused to a high 
and simultaneous efibrt, and the imperative mandate of the public 
voice dismisses the unfaithful servants from their places. The cita- 
del of the Administration can only be carried by general storm. 

Now, I ask, can it be supposed that this Government can go on 
long in a course of successful operation, if no change can be pro- 
duced without such an effort as that in which the People of this 
country are now engaged ? I put it to the old-fashioned Republi- 
cans of Virginia. I ask them, whether it can be supposed that this 
fl'ee Republican Government of ours can last for half a century 
longer, if its Administration cannot be changed without such an 
excitement, — 1 may say such a civil revolution, — as is now in prog- 
ress, and, I trust, is near its completion ? 

I present this case as the greatest and strongest of all proofs that 
Executive power in this country has increased, and is dangerous to 
liberty. 

If this be so, then I ask, What are the causes which have given 
and have augmented this force of Executive power ? The disci- 
ples of the ancient school of Virginia long entertained the opinion 
that there was great danger of encroachment by the General Gov- 
ernment on the just rights of the States ; but they were also alarmed 
at the possibility of an undue augmentation of the Executive power. 
It becomes us, at a crisis like the present, to recur to first principles 
— to go back to our early history, and to see how the question 
actually stands. 

You all well know that, in the formation of a Constitution for the 
government of this country, the great difficulty its framers encountered 
was with regard to the Executive power. It was easy to establish a 
House of Representatives, and a second branch of the Government in 
the form of a Senate, for it was a very obvious thing to say that the 
States should be represented in one House of Congress as the People 
were represented in the other. But the great and perplexing ques- 
tion was, how to limit and regulate the Executive power in such a 
manner, that, while it should be sufficiently strong and effective for 
the purposes of Government, it should not be able to endanger civil 
liberty. Our fathers had seen and felt the inconvenience, during 



633 

the Revolutionary War, of a weak Executive in Government. The 
country had suffered much from that cause. There was not any 
unity of purpose or efficiency of action in its Executive power. As 
the country had just emerged from one war, and might be plunged 
into another, they were looking intently to such a Constitution as 
should secure an efficient Executive. Perhaps it remains to be seen 
whether, in this respect, they had not better have given less power 
to this branch, and taken all the inconvenience arising from the want 
of it, rather than to hazard the granting of so much as might prove 
dangerous not only to the other departments of Government, but to 
the safety and freedom of the country at large. 

Because, in the first place, it is the Executive which confers all 
the favors of a Government. It has the patronage in its hands, and 
if we look at the augmentation of patronage which has taken place 
in this country, we shall see that in the course of things, and to 
answer the purposes of men, this patronage has greatly increased. 
We shall find the expenditures for office have been augmented. 
We shall find that this is true of the Civil and Diplomatic Depart- 
ments — we shall find it is true of all the Departments ; of the Post- 
Office, and especially of the Commercial Department. Thus, to 
take an instance from one of our great commercial cities : In the 
custom-house at New York, the number of officers has, in twelve 
years, increased threefold, and the whole expense, of course, in the 
same proportion. 

Then there is the power of removal — a power which, in some 
instances, has been exercised most remorselessly. By whatever 
party it is wielded, unless it be called for by the actual exigencies 
of the public service, Virginia, more than any State of the Union, 
has ever rejected, disowned, disavowed, the practice of removal for 
opinion's sake. I do honor to Virginia in this respect. That 
power has been far less practised in Virginia than in certain Stales 
where the Spoils' doctrine is known to be more popular. But this 
power of removal, sanctioned as it is by time, does exist, and I 
have seen it exercised, in every part of the country where public 
opinion tolerated it, with a most unsparing hand. 

I will now say, however, that which I admit to be very presump- 
tuoifc, because it is said notwithstanding the illustrious authority of 
one of the greatest of your great men — a man better acquainted 
with the Constitution of the United States than any other man — a 
man who saw it in its cradle — who held it in his arms, as one may 
say, in its infancy — who presented and recommended it to the 
American people, and who saw it adopted very much under the 
force of his own reasoning and the weight of his own reputation — 
who lived long enough to see it prosperous, to enjoy its highest hon- 
ors — and who at last went down to the grave among ten thousand 
blessings, for which, morning and evening, he had thanked God ; — 

SB* 



534 

I mean James Madison. Yet even from this great and good man, 
whom I hold to be chief among the just interpreters of the 
Constitution, I am constrained, however presumptuous it may be 
considered, to differ in relation to one of his interpretations of that 
instrument. I refer to the opinion expressed by him, that the power 
of removal from office does exist in the Constitution as an inde- 
pendent power in the hands of the President, without the consent 
of the Senate. I wish he had taken a different view of it. I do 
not say that he was wrong ; that in me would be too hazardous. 
I advert to this here, to show that 1 am not now for the first time 
preaching against the danger of an increase of Executive power ; 
for when the subject was in discussion before Congress, in 1835, I 
expressed there the same opinions which I have now uttered, and 
which have been only the more confirmed by recent experience. 
The power of removal places the hopes and fears, the living, the 
daily bread of men, at the disposal of the Executive, and does, 
thereby, produce a vast mass of Executive influence and control. 
Then, again, from the very nature of things, the Executive power 
acts constantly ; it is always in being — always in the citadel and 
on the lookout ; and it has, besides, entire unity of purpose. They 
who are in, have but one object, which is to keep all others out ; 
while those who are not in office, and who desire a change, have a 
variety of difTerent objects, as they are to be found in different parts 
of the country. One complains of one thing, another of another ; 
and, ordinarily, there is no strict unity of object, nor agreement on 
candidates, nor concert of action ; and therefoi-e it is that those 
wielding power within the citadel are able to keep the others out, 
though they may be more numerous. Hence we have seen an 
'Administration, though in a minority, yet by the continued exercise 
of power, able to bring over a majority of the People's Representa- 
tives to the support of such a measure as the sub-Treasury, which, 
when it was first proposed, received but little favor in any part of 
the country. 

Again ; though it may appear comparatively inconsiderable, yet, 
when we are looking at the means by which the Executive power 
has risen to its present threatening height, we must not ovedook the 
power of — I will not say a pensioned — but of a patronized press. 
Of all things in a popular Government, a Government Press is the 
most to be dreaded. The press furnishes the only usual means of 
public address ; and if Government, by supporting, comes to control 
it, then they take to themselves, at the public expense, the great 
channel of all communication to the People. Unless France be an 
exception, where the minister regulariy demands so many thousand 
francs for the management of the public press, I know of no Govern- 
ment in the worid where the press is avowedly patronized to the 
same extent as it is in this country. Have not you, men of Virginia, 



^ 



535 

been mortified to witness the importance which is attached, at Wash- 
ington, to the election of a Public Printer? — to observe the i^reat 
anxiety and solicitude which even your own friends have been 
obliged to exercise to keep that appointment out of the hands of 
Executive power ? One of the first things which, in my opinion, 
ought to be done, is, when a new Administration shall come in, to 
separate the Government Press from the politics of the country. 
1 don't want the Government printer to preach politics to the People ; 
because 1 know beforehand what politics he will preach — it will all 
be one lo Triumjjhe from the beginning of the first page to the end 
of the last paragraph. I am for cutting off tliis power from the 
Executive. Give the People fair play. I say. Give the People 
fair play. If they think the Government is in error, or that better 
men may be found to administer it, give them a chance to turn the 
present men out, and put better men in ; but don't let them be 
compelled to give their money to pay a man to persuade them not 
to change the Government. 

Well, there are still other modes by which Executive power is 
established and confirmed. The first thing it seeks to do is to draw 
strict lines of party distinction, and then to appeal to the party feel- 
ings of men. This is a topic which might lead me very far into an 
mquiry as to the causes which have overturned all popular Govern- 
ments. It is the nature of men to be credulous and confiding 
toward their friends. If there exists in the country a powerful party, 
and if the head of that party be the head of the Government, and, 
avowing himself the head of that party, gives thanks for the public 
honors he has received, not to the country, but to his party, then we 
can see the causes in operation, which, according to tliu well-known 
character and tendencies of man, lead us to give undue trust and 
confidence to party favorites. Why, Gentlemen, kings and queens 
of old, and probably in modern times, have had their favorites, and 
they have given them unbounded trust. Well, there are sometimes 
among the people persons who are no wiser than kings and queens, 
who have favorites also, and give to those favorites the same blind 
tmst and confidence. Hence it is very difficult — nay, sometimes im- 
possible — to convince a party that the man at Its head exercises an 
undue amount of power. They say, "He is our friend ; the more 
power he wields, the better for us, because he will wield it for our 
benefit." There are two sorts of Republicans in the world : one is 
a very good sort ; the other, I think, quite indifferent. The latter 
care not what power persons in office possess, if they have the elec- 
tion of those persons. They are quite willing their favorites should 
exercise all power, and are perfectly content with the tendencies of 
Government to an elective despotism, \i ihey may choose the man at 
the head of it, and more especially If they have a chance of being 
chosen themselves. That is one sort of Republicanism. But that 



536 

is not our American liberty ; that is not the Republicanism of the 
United States, and especially of the State of Virginia. Virginians 
do not rush out into that extravagant confidence in men ; they are 
for restraining power by law ; they are for hedging in and strictly 
guarding all who exercise it. They look upon all who are in office 
as limited agents, and will not repose too much trust in any. That 
is American Republicanism. What was it that Thomas Jefferson 
said with so much emphasis ? " Have we found angels in the form 
of men to govern us?" However it might have been then, we of 
this day may answer, No, no. We have found them at least like 
others, " a little lower than the angels." In the same spirit he has 
said, an elective despotism is not the Government we fought for. 
And that is true. Our fathers fouiiht for a limited Government 
— a Government hedged all round with securities — or, as 1 heard a 
distinguished son of Virginia say, one fenced in with ten rails and a 
top rider. 

Gentlemen, a distinguished lover of liberty of our own time, in 
another hemisphere, said, with apparent paradox, that the quantity 
of liberty in any country is exactly equal to the quantity of restraint ; 
because, if Government is restrained from putting its hand upon 
you, to that extent you are free; and all regular liberty consists in 
putting restraints upon Government and individuals, so that they 
shall not interfere with your freedom of action and purpose. You 
may easily simplify Government ; shallow thinkers talk of a simple 
Government ; Turkey is the simplest Government in the world. 
But if you wish to secure entire personal liberty, you must multiply 
restraints upon the Government, so that it cannot go farther than 
the public good requires. Then you may be free, and not other- 
wise. 

Another great power by which Executive influence augments 
itself, especially when the man who wields it stands at the head of 
a party, consists in the use of names. Mirabeau said that words 
are things ; and so they are. But 1 beHeve that they are often 
fraudulent things, though always possessed of real power. The 
faculty of taking to ourselves a popular name, and giving an un- 
popular name to an adversary, is a faculty of very great concern in 
politics. I put it to you, Gentlemen, whether, for the last month or 
two, the whole power of this Government has not consisted chiefly 
in the discharge of a shower of hard names. Have you, for a month 
past, heard any man defend the sub-Treasury ? Have you seen any 
man, during that time, burn his fingers by taking hold of Mr. Poin- 
sett's Militia project? Their whole resort has been to pour out 
upon us a tide of denunciation as aristocrats, aristocrats ; taking to 
themselves, the meanwhile, the well-deserved designation of true 
Democrats. How cheering, how delightful, that a man, independ- 
ent of any regard to his own character or worth, may thus range 



_^ 



537 

himself under a banner the most acceptable of all others to his 
iellow-Citizens ! It is with false patriotism as with base money ; 
all relies on tiie stamp. It does not w ish to be wei^died ; it hates 
tiie scales ; it is thrown into horrors at the crucible ; it must all go by 
tale ; it holds out tlie King's head, with his name and superscrip- 
tion, and, if challenged, replies, Do you not see the stamp on my 
forehead? I belong to the Democratic family — make me current. 
But we live in an age too enlightened to be gulled by this business 
of stamping ; we have learned to inquire into the true nature and 
value of things. Democracy most surely is not a term of reproach, 
but of respect. Oiu" Government is a Constitutional, Democratic 
Republican Government; and if they mean that only, there is none 
will dispute that they are good Democrats. But if they set up 
quaiihcations and distinctions, — if tliere are genera and species, — it 
may require twenty political Linnasuses to say to which classifica- 
tion they belong. 

There is another contrivance for the increase of Executive pow- 
er, which is utterly abhorrent to all true patriots, and against wliich, 
in an especial manner, General Washington has left us his farewell 
injunction ; 1 mean the constant recurrence to local difierences, 
prejudices, and jealousies. That is the great bane and curse of 
this lovely country of ours. That country extends over a vast 
territory ; hence there are few from among us in Massachusetts 
who enjoy the advantage of a personal intercourse with our friends 
in Virginia, and but few of you who visit us in Massachusetts : the 
South is still more remote ; the difference wdiich exists in habits and 
pursuits between us, enables the enemy to sow tares by exciting 
local prejudices on botli sides. Sentiments are mutually ascribed to 
us which neither ever entertained. By this means a party press is 
enabled to destroy that generous spirit of brotherhood which should 
exist between us. All [latriotic men ought carefully to guard them- 
selves aiiainst the effects of arts like these. 

And here 1 am brought to advert, for one moment, to what I con- 
stantly see in all the Administration papers, from Baltimore south. 
It is one perpetual outcry, admonishing the People of the South 
that their own State Governments, and the property they hold under 
them, are not secure if they admit a Northern man to any consider- 
able share in the administration of the General Government. You 
all know that that is the universal cry. Now, I have spoken my 
sentiments in the neighborhood of Virginia, though not actually 
within the State, in June last, and again in the heart of Massachu- 
setts in July, so that it is not now that I proclaim them for the first 
time. But further ; ten yeare ago, when obliged to speak on this 
same subject, I uttered the same sentiment in regard to slavery, and 
to the absence of all power in Congress to interfere, in any manner 
whatever, with that subject. 1 shall ask some friend connected 
VOL. III. 68 



538 

with the press to circulate in Virginia what I said on this subject in 
the Senate of the United Slates in January, 1830.* 1 have nothing 

* The following is the passage to which Mr. Webster referred : — 
Extract froia Mr. Webster's Speech in Reply to Mr. Hayne, January 21, 1CJ30. 

" At the very first Congress, petitions on the subject of slavery were presented, 
if I mistake not, from ditierent States. The Pennsylvania Society for promoting 
the Abolition of Slavery took a lead, and laid before Congress a memorial, praymg 
Congress to promote the abolition by such powers as it possessed. This memo- 
rial was referred, in the House of Representatives, to a select committee, consist- 
ing of Mr. Foster of New Hampshire, Mr. Gerry of Massachusetts, Mr. Hunt- 
ingdon of Connecticut, Mr. Lawrence of New York, Mr. Dickinson- of New 
Jersey, Mr. Hartley of Pennsylvania, and Mr. Parker of Virginia — all of tliem, 
Sir, as you will observe. Northern men but the last. This committee made a 
report, which was committed to a committee of the whole House, and there con- 
sidered and discussed on several days ; and, being amended, although without 
material alteration, it was made to express three distinct propositions on tlie sub- 
ject of slavery and the slave trade — First, in the words of the Constitution, that 
Congress cannot, prior to the year 1S08, prohibit the migration or importation of 
such persons as any of the States then existing should think proper to admit ; 
second, that Congress had authority to restrain the citizens of the United States 
from carrying on the African slave trade for the purpose of supplying foreign 
countries. On this proposition, our early laws against those who engage in that 
traffic are founded. The third proposition, and that wiiich bears on the present 
question, was expressed in the following terms : — 

" ' Resolved, That Congress have no authority to interfere in the emancipation 
of slaves, or in the treatment of them in any of the States, it remaining with the 
several States alone to provide rules and regulations therein which humanity and 
true policy may require.' 

" This resolution received the sanction of the House of Representatives so early 
as March, 1790. And now, Sir, the honorable gentleman will allow me to 
remind him that not only were the select committee who reported the resolution, 
with a single exception, all Northern men, but also, that, of the members then 
composing the House of Representatives, a large majority, I believe nearly two 
thirds, were Northern men also. 

" The House agreed to insert these resolutions in its journal ; and from that day 
to this it has never been maintained or contended that Congress had any au- 
thority to regulate or interfere with the condition of slaves in the several States. 
No Northern gentleman, to my knowledge, has moved any such question in 
either House of Congress. 

"The fears of the South — whatever fears they might have entertained — were 
allayed and quieted by this early decision, and so remained until they were 
excited afresh, without cause, but for collateral and indirect purposes. When it 
became necessary, or was thought so by some political persons, to find an unvary- 
ing ground for the exclusion of Northern men from confidence and from lead in 
the affairs of the Republic, then, and not till then, the cry was raised, and the 
feelings industriously excited, that the influence of Northern men in the public 
counsels would endanger the relation of master and slave. 

" For myself, I claim no other merit than that this gross and enormous injustice 
toward the whole North has not wrought upon me to change my opinions or my 
political conduct. I hope I am above violating my principles even under the 
smart of injury and false imputations. Unjust suspicion and undeserved re- 
proach, whatever pain I may experience from them, will not induce me, 1 trust, 
nevertheless, to overstep the limits of constitutional duty, or to encroach on the 
rights of others. The domestic slavery of the South I leave where I find it — 
in the hands of their own Governments. It is their affair, not mine. 

" I go for the Constitution as it is, and for the Union as it is ; but I am resolved 
not to submit in silence to accusations, either against myself individually, or 
against the North, wholly unfounded and unjust; accusations which impute to 
lui a disposition to evade the constitutional compact, and to extend the power of 



539 

to add to or to subtract from what I then said. I commend it to youf 
attention, or rather I desire you to look at it. I hold that Congress 
is absolutely precluded from interfering in any manner, direct or 
indirect, with this, as with any other of the institutions of the States. 
(The cheering was here loud and long continued, and a voice from 
the crowd exclaimed, " We wish this could be heard from Mary- 
land to Louisiana, and we desire that the seniin-ient just expressed 
may be repeated. Repeat, repeat!") Well, I repeat it — pro- 
claim it on the wings of all the winds — tell it to all your friends 
— (cries of" We will ! We will ! ") — tell it, I say, that standing here 
in the Capitol of Virginia, beneath an October sun, in the midst of 
this assemblage, before the entire country, and upon all the responsi- 
bility which belongs to me, I say that there is no power, direct or 
indirect, in Congress or the General Government, to interfere in the 
slightest degree with the institutions of the South. 

And now, said JNIr. Webster, I ask you only to do me one 
favor, I ask you to carry that paper home ; read it ; read it to your 
neighbors ; and when you hear the cry, " Shall Mr. Webster, the 
Abolitionist, be allowed to profane the soil of Virginia ? " that you 
will tell them that, in connection with the doctrine in that speech, I 
hold that there are two governments over us, each possessing its own 
distinct authority, with which the other may not interfere. 1 may 
differ from you in some things, but I will here say that, as to the 
doctrines of State Rights, as held by Mr. Madison in his last days, I 
do not know that we differ at all ; yet I am one, and among the 
foremost, to hold that it is indispensable to the prosperity of these 
Governments to preserve, and that he is no true friend to either 
who does not labor to preserve, a true distinction between both. 

We may not all see the line which divides them alike ; but all 
honest men know that there is a line, and they all fear to go either 
on the one or the other side of it. It is this balance between the 
General and the State Governments which has preserved the coun- 
try in unexampled prosperity for fifty years ; and the destruction 
of this just balance will be the destruction of our Government, 
What I believe to be the doctiine of State Rights, I hold as firmly 
as any man. Do I not belong to a State ? and, may I not say, to a 
Slate which has done something to give herself renown, and to her 



thfi Government over the internal laws and domestic conditi >n of the States. 
All such accusations, wherever and wlienever made, — all insin lations of the ex- 
istence of any such purpose, — I know and feel to be groundless and injurious. 
And we must confide in Southern gentlemen themselves; we must trust to those 
whose inten-rity of heart and magnanimity of feeling will lead them to a desire to 
maintain and disseminate truth, and who possess the means of its diffusion 
with the Southern public ; and we must leave it to them to disabuse that public 
of its prejudices. But in the mean time, for my own part, I shall continue to 
act justly, whether those towards whom that justice is exercised receive it with 
caudoi or with contumely." 



540 

sons some little share of participated distinction ? I say again, that 
the upholding of State Rights, on the one hand, and of the just 
powers of Congress, upon the other, is equally indispensable to the 
preservation of our free Republican Government. 

And now, Gentlemen, permit me to address to you a few words in 
regard to those measures of the General Government which have 
caused the existing excitement throughout the country. I will pass 
rapidly over them. I need not argue to you Democrats the question 
of the sub-Treasury, and I suppose it is hardly necessary to speak 
to you of Mr. Poinsett's militia bill. Into which of your mountains 
has not its discussion penetrated ? Up which of all your winding- 
streams has not its echo floated ? I am sure he must be very tired 
of it himself. Remember always that the great principle of the 
Constitution on that subject is, that the militia is the militia of the 
States, a\d not of the General Government ; and being thus the 
militia of the States, there is no part of the Constitution worded 
with greater care, and with a more scrupulous jealousy, than that 
which grants and limits the power of Congress over it. Does it say 
that Congress may make use of the militia as it pleases? — that it 
may call them out for drill and discipline under its own pay ? No 
such thing. The terms used are the most precise and particular: 
*' Congress may provide for calling out the militia to execute the 
laws, to suppress insurrection, and to repel invasion." These three 
cases are specified, and these are all. Call out the militia to drill 
them ? to discipline them ? to march the militia of Virginia to 
Wheeling to be drilled ? Why, such a thing never entered into 
the head of any man — never, never. What is not very usual 
in the Constitution, after this specific enumeration of powers, 
it adds a negative in those golden words, reserving to the States the 
appointment of officers and the training of the militia. That's it. 
Read tliis clause, and then read in Mr. Poinsett's project that the 
militia are to be trained by the President ! Look on this picture, 
and on that. I do Virginia no more than justice when I say that 
she first laid hold upon this monstrous project, and has continued 
to denounce it, till she has made its author's heart sick ; and she 
don't mean to pardon it even now. 

As to the sub-Treasury, the subject is worn out. The topic 
is almost as empty of new ideas as the Treasury itself is of 
money. I had, the other day, the honor to address an assem- 
blage of the merchants of New York. 1 asked them, among 
other things, whether this eternal cry about a separation of 
Bank and State was not all mockery and humbug ; and thou- 
sands of merchants, intimately acquainted with the whole subject, 
cried, " Yes, yes ; it is ! " The fact unquestionably is, that the 
funds of the Government are just as much in the custody of the 
banks at this moment as they ever were ; yet at the same time I 



541 

believe that, under that law, there does exist, whenever the revenues 
of the country shall be uncoininonly large, a power to stop at j)leas- 
sure all the solvent banks in the coniaiuaity. Such is the opinion 
every where held by the best informed men in the commercial parts 
of the country. 

There is another expedient to augment Executive power quite 
novel in its character. I refer to the power conferred upon the 
President to select from among the appropriations of Congress such 
as he may suppose the state of the Treasury most to justify, and to 
give or withhold the public money accordingly. This is certainly 
a marvellously Democratic doctrine. Do you not remember the 
emphasis with which Mr. Jefferson expressed himself on the subject 
of specific appropriations ? The law, as it now stands, requires 
them to be specific. If Congress, for instance, appropriate so many 
dollars for the building of ships, no part of the money may be ap- 
plied to the pay of sailors or marines. This is the common rule. 
But how has this subject been treated in regard to those objects 
over which this Presidential discretion extends ? The appropria- 
tions are specific still ; but then a specific power is given to the 
President to dispense with the restriction ; and thus one specific is 
set against the otber. Let this process be carried but one step 
farther, and, although there may be a variety of appropriations 
made by Congress, yet, inasmuch as we have entire trust and 
confidence in the Executive discretion, that the President will make 
the proper selections from among them, therefore we may enact, or 
say it shall be enacted, that what little money there may at any 
time be found in the Treasury, the President may expend very much 
according to his own pleasure. 

There is one other topic I must not omit. I am now endeavor- 
ing to prove that, of all men on the face of the earth, you of Vir- 
ginia, tlie descendants and disciples of some of the greatest men of 
the Revolution, are most called to repudiate and to condemn the 
doctrines of this Administration. I call upon you to apply to this 
Administration all that body of political truth which you have 
learned from Henry, from Jeffei-son, from Madison, from Wythe, 
and that whole constellation of Revolutionary worthies, of whom 
you are justly proud, and under this light to examine and to say 
whedier this present only Democratic Administration are the favor- 
ers of civil liberty and of State Rights, or the reverse. And, in 
furtherance of this design, I call your attention to the conduct of the 
President, of the Executive Departments, and of the Senate of the 
United States, in regard to the right and practice of the States to 
contract debts for their own purposes. Has it occurred to you what 
a deadly blow they have struck at the just authority and rights of 
the States? Let us follow this matter out a little. In the palmy 
times of the Treasury, when it was not only full but overflowing 

TT 



542 

with the public money, the States, to a very considerable extent, 
engaged in works of internal improvement, and, in consequence of 
doing so, had occasion to borrow money. We all know that money 
can be had on much cheaper terms on the other continent than on 
this: hence the bonds of the States went abroad, and absorbed 
capital in Europe; and so long as their credit was unassailed and 
remained sound, this was accomplished, for the most part, at very 
reasonable rates. During this process, and while a number of the 
States had thus their State securities in the foreign market, the 
President of the United States, in his opening Message to Congress 
at the commencement of the last session, comes out with a series of 
the most discouraging and most disparaging remarks on the credit of 
all the States. He tells Congress that the States will repent what 
they have done, and that they will find it difficult to pay the debts they 
have contracted ; and this official lann;uage of the Chief Magistrate 
to the Legislature goes out into the very market where these State 
bonds are held for sale. Then comes his Secretary, JNIr. Wood- 
bury, with a report in the same strain, giving it as his opinion that 
the States have gone too far in this assumption of liabilities. But 
the thing does not stop here. Mr. Benton brings forward a resolu- 
tion in the Senate declaring that the General Government ought not 
to assume these debts of the States : that resolution is sent to a 
committee, and that committee make a report upon the subject as 
long as yonder bridge, (though not, I believe, as much travelled or as 
often gone over,) the whole object and tendency of which is to dis- 
parage the credit of the States ; and then Mr. Grundy makes a 
speech upon it. What had Mr. Benton or Mr. Grundy to do with 
the matter ? W^ere they called on to guaranty the debts of Vir- 
ginia or of Maryland ? Yet the effect very naturally and in- 
evitably was, to depress the value of State securities in the foreign 
market. I was in Europe last summer. Massachusetts had her 
bonds in that market : and what did I see ? The most miserable, 
pitiful, execrable lucubrations taken from the Administration press 
in New York, endeavoring to prove that the States had not sover- 
eignty enough to contract debts. These wretched productions de- 
clared that the bonds issued by the States of this Union were all 
void ; that they were no better than waste paper ; and exhorted 
European capitalists not to touch one of them. These articles, 
coming, as they did, from this side the water, were all seized on 
with avidity, and put into circulation in the leading journals all over 
Europe : at the same time, the Administration press in this country, 
unrebuked by the Government, put forth arguments going to show 
that Virginia has no authority to contract a debt in the name and on 
the credit of the Commonwealth ; that Massachusetts is so com- 
pletely shorn of every particle of sovereignty whatever, that she 
can issue no public security of any kind on which to borrow money I 



543 

And this is the doctrine of State Rights ! Well, Gentlemen, I was 
called on to meet this question, and I told those who put to me the 
inquiry, that the States of the American Union were, in this respect, 
just as sovereign as any of their states in Europe. I held a corre- 
spondence on the subject, which was published at large ; and for 
that — yes, for defending State Rights before the face of all Europe — 
I have been denounced as one who wants the General Government 
to assume the debts of the States — as one who has conspired to 
buy up British Whigs with foreign gold! All this, however, has 
not ruffled my temper. I have seen it all with composure. 

But I confess there is one thing which has disturbed the serenity of 
my mind. It is what appears to be a studied attempt, on the part 
of this whole Administration, including its head, to fix a spot upon 
the good name of the eariy founders of our Constitution. Read the 
letter of the President to some of his friends in Kentucky — to 
what he calls '• the entire Democracy of Kentucky." (I should 
like much to know^ what constitutes the Democracy of a State.) 
These good friends of the President write to him that the entire 
Democracy of the State is with him, and he writes back how hap- 
py he is to hear that such is the fact. The State comes to the 
vote, and two thirds of the People of the State are found to be 
against him; yet still he clasps to his breast, with exultation, the 
'■' entire Democracy of Kentucky ! " And so it will be a month 
hence. General Harrison will have been elected by a simultaneous 
rush of the free voters of the whole Union ; yet Mr. Van 
Buren will still insist that he has in his favor " the entire Democ- 
racy " of the country. Be this as it may, he does, in that 
letter, ascribe to President Washington, in 1791, and to Mr. 
Madison, in 1816, corrupt motives for their public conduct. I 
may forgive this, but I shall not forget it. I ask you to read that 
letter, and one other written on a similar occasion ; and then, if it 
comes in your way, I ask you to pei-use an address put forth by the 
Administration members of the New York Legislature. What do 
you think they say ? You, countrymen of Jefferson and of INIadi- 
son, of Henry, of Wythe, of the Lees, and a host of kindred spirits 
of the same order, — you, who inherit the soil and the principles of 
those men who shed their blood for our national independence, — 
what do you think they say of your fathers and of my fathers ? 
Why, that, in all their efforts and sacrifices in that great struggle, 
they meant, not independence, not civil liberty, not the establish- 
ment of a Republican Government, but merely to transfer the 
Throne from England to America, and to be themselves Peers and 
Nobles around it ! Does it not disturb the blood of Virginians to 
hear language like this? I do say that this attempt to scorch 

the fair, unsullied reputation of our ancestors ; but no, no, — 

they cannot scorch it ; it will go through a hotter furnace than any 



544 

their detraction can kindle, and even the smell of fire shall not be 
upon their garments. Yet it does raise one's indignation to see 
men, certainly not the greatest of all benefactors of tlieir country, 
thus attempt to blight the fame of men both then and ever since uni- 
versally adujitted to have been among her greatest and her best of 
friends. 

While speaking of the attacks of this Administration on State 
Rights, I should not do my duty if I omitted to notice the outrage 
recently perpetrated on the most sacred rights of the State and 
People of New Jersey. By the Constitution of the United States, 
New Jersey, like the other States, is entided to have a certain quota 
of Representatives in Congress ; and she chooses them on general 
ticket or in districts, as she thinks fit. The right to have a specific 
number of Representatives is a State Right under the Constitution. 
Under the constitutional guaranty of this right, New Jersey sends 
up to the House of Representatives her proper number of men. 
Now, 1 say that, by universal principles, although Congress be the 
judge, in the last resort, of the election return and qualification of 
her own members, those who bring in their hand the prescribed evi- 
dence of their election, by the people of any State, are entitled to 
take their seats upon the floor of that House, and to hold them until 
disturbed by proof preferred on petition. That this is so, must be 
apparent from the fact that those members who voted them out of 
their seats possessed no better or other means of proving their own 
right to sit and to vote on that question, than that held by any one 
of those whom they excluded. Were there other States situated 
precisely in this respect as New Jersey, would it not be as fair for 
the New Jersey members to vote these Representatives out of the 
Representative Hall as it was for them to vote hers out ? 1 think 
it is Virginia law — it is at least plantation law, that is to say, the 
law of common sense, and that is very good law — that, until the 
House is organized, he who has the evidence of his return as a 
Representative elected by the people of his district, is enthled to 
take his seat. But the Representatives of New Jersey, with this 
evidence in their hand, were voted out of their seats ; their com- 
petitors, while the evidence was still under examination, were voted 
in, and immediately gave their complacent votes for the sub-Treas- 
ury bill. 

Gendemen, I cannot forget where I am. I cannot forget how often 
you have heard these subjects discussed by far abler hands than mine. 
I will not further dwell upon these topics. The time has come when 
the public mind is nearly made up, and is very shordy about to 
settle these questions, together with the prosperity of the country for 
many years to come. I am only desirous of keeping myself to 
the line of remark with which I commenced. I say, then, that 
the enemy has been driven to his last citadel. He takes to himself 



545 

a popular name, while beneath its cover he fires all manner of abuse 
upon his adversaries. That seems to be his only remaining; mode 
of warfare. If you ask him what arc his pretensions to the honors 
and confidence of the country, his answer is, " I am a Democrat." 
But are you not in love with Mr. Poinsett's bill ? The answer still 
is, " I am a Democrat, and support all tlie measures of this Demo- 
cratic Administration." But do you approve of the turning out of 
the members from New Jersey ? " O yes, because the w ords are 
written on our banner, (words actually placed on one of the Ad- 
ministration flags in a procession in the interior of New York,) ' The 
Democraaj scorns the Broad Seal of Neiv Jersey,'' " 

My friends, I only desire that the professions and principles of this 
Aclministration may be examined. We are coming to those times 
when mere professions can no longer deceive. Virginia has once 
been deceived by them ; but that day is past ; the times are coming — 
they are, I trust, just at hand — when that distinguished son of Vir- 
ginia, that eminent and patriotic citizen who has been put in nom- 
ination for the Chief Executive office under this Government, will 
be elected by the unbought, unconstrained suffrages of his country- 
men. To that event 1 look forward with as much certainty as to 
the duration of his life. 

]My acquaintance with the feelings and sentiments of the North 
has been extensive ; and I believe that, from Pennsylvania east, 
New Jersey, New York, and the whole of New England, with the 
solitary exception, probably, of New Hampshire, — I say, I have 
not a doubt that the whole of this part of the country will go 
for the election of William Henry Harrison for the Presidency. 
Of my native State of New Hampshire I shall always speak with 
respect. I believe that the very foundations of her granite hills 
begin to shake ; indeed, my only fear for her is, that she will come 
into the great family of iier sister States only when her aid is no 
longer needed, and therefore too late for her own reputation. 

Fellow-citizens : We are on a great march to the triumphant vic- 
tory of the principles of liberty over Executive power. If we do 
not accomplish it now, the future, I own, appears to me full of dark- 
ness and of doubt. If the American People shall sanction the 
course and the principles of this Administration, I, for one, though 
I have been thought hitherto of rather a sanguine temperament, 
shall begin not a little to despair of the Republic. But I will not 
despair of it. The public mind is aroused ; men are beginning to 
think for themselves ; and, when they do this, they are not far from 
a right decision. There is now an attempt on the part of the Ad- 
ministration, who seem beginning, at length, to fear for the perpetuity 
of their power, to excite a feeling of acrimony and bitterness among 
neighbors. Have you not seen this, particularly of late, in the Ad- 
ministration papers ? Be above it. Tell your neighbors that we are 

VOL, III. 69 T T * 



546 

all embarked in one cause, and that we must sink or swim together. 
Invite them, not in a taunting, but in a generous and a temperate 
spirit, to come forth and argue the great questions of the day, and to 
see if they can give good and solid reasons why there should not be 
a change. Yes, a change. I said \shen I was in Baltimore, in 
May last, and 1 repeat it here, the cry, the universal cry, is for a 
change. However well many may think of the motives and 
designs of the existing Administration, they see that it has not 
succeeded in securing the well-being of the country, and they are 
for a change. Let us revile nobody ; let us repel nobody. They 
desire but light ; let us give it to them. Let us discuss with moder- 
ation and coolness the great topics of public policy, and endeavor to 
bring all men of American heart and feehng into what 1 sincerely 
believe to be the true American cause. How shall I — O, how 
shall I — express to you my sense of the obligation which rests 
upon this generation to preserve from destruction our free and happy 
republican institutions ? Who shall spread fatal dissensions among 
us ? Are we not together under one common Government, to ob- 
tain which the blood of your fathers and of mine was poured out 
together in the same hard-fought fields? Nay, does imagination 
itself, in its highest flight, suggest any thing in the form of political 
institutions for which you would exchange these dearly-bought con- 
stitutions of our own ? For my part, having now arrived at that, 
period of life when men begin to reflect upon the past, I love to 
draw around me in thought those pure and glorious spirits who 
achieved our Revolution, and established our forms of Govern- 
ment. I cannot find a deeper or more fervent sentiment in my 
heart than that these precious institutions and liberties which we 
enjoy may be transmitted unimpaired to the latest posterity ; that 
they may terminate only with the termination of all tilings eartWy, 
— when the world itself shall terminate — 

" When, wrapped in flames, the realms of ether glow, 
And Heaven's last thunders shake the world below." 



REMARKS 

TO THE LADIES OF RICHMOND, VIRGINIA, OCTOBER 5, 1840, 



Mr. Webster addressed the Virginia Convention, at Richmond, on the 5th 
of October. During his short visit to the city, several friends called on him, of 
coarse ; but he was unable to return their visits, or to pay his respects to their 
families, for want of time. It was suggested that the ladies who might desire to 
do so should assemble in the " Log Cabin," and that he should there pay his re- 
spects to them. The meeting was large, and the building quite full. On being 
introduced to them, in a few appropriate remarks, by Mr. Lyons, Mr. Webster 
addressed them in the following speech : — 

Ladies : T am very sure I owe the pleasure I now enjoy to 
your kind disposition which has given me the opportunity to present 
my thanks and my respects to you thus collectively, since the short- 
ness of my stay in the city does not allow me the happiness of call- 
ing upon those, severally and individually, from members of whose 
families I have received kindness and notice. And, in the first 
place, I wish to express to you my deep and hearty thanks, as I 
have endeavored to do to your fathers, your husbands, and your 
brothers, for the unbounded hospitality I have received ever since I 
came among you. This is registered, I assure you, on a grateful 
heart, in characters of an enduring nature. The rough contests of 
the political world are not suited to the dignity and the delicacy of 
your sex ; but you possess the intelligence to know how much of 
that happiness which you are entitled to hope for, both for your- 
selves and for your children, depends on the right administration of 
Government, and a proper tone of public morals. That is a subject 
on which the moral perceptions of woman are both quicker and 
juster than those of the other sex. I do not speak of that adminis- 
tration of Government whose object is merely the protection of in- 
dustry, the preservation of civil liberty, and the securing to enterprise 
its due reward. I speak of Government in a somewhait higher point 
of view ; I speak of it in regard to its influence on the morals and 
sentiments of the community. We live in an age distini{uished for 
great benevolent exertion, m which the affluent are consecrating the 
means they possess to the endowment of colleges and academies, to 
the building of churches, to the support of religion and religious 

547 



^ 



548 

worship, to the encouragement of schools, lyceums, and athenaeums, 
and other means of general popular instruction. This is all well ; it 
is admirahle ; it augurs well for the prospects of ensuing generations. 
But I have sometimes thought that, amidst all this activity and zeal 
of the ffood and the benevolent, the influence of Government, on the 
morals and on the religious feelings of the community, is apt to be 
overlooked or underrated. I speak, of course, of its indirect influ- 
ence, of the power of its example, and the general tone which it 
inspires. 

A popular Government, in all these respects, is a most powerful 
institution ; more powerful, as it has sometimes appeared to me, 
than the influence of most other human institutions put together, 
either for good or for evil, according to its character. Its example, 
its tone, whether of respect or disrespect to moral obligation, is most 
important to human happiness ; it is among those things which most 
affect the political morals of mankind, and their general morals also. 
I advert to this, because there has been put forth, in modern times, 
the false maxim that there is one morality for politics, and another 
morality for other things ; that, in their political conduct to their 
opponents, men may say and do that which they would never think 
of sayinir or doinw in the personal relations of private life. There 
has been openly announced a sentiment, which 1 consider as the 
very concrete of false morality, which declares that " all is fair in 
politics." If a man speaks falsely or calumniously of his neighbor, 
and is reproached for the offence, the ready excuse is this : " It was 
in relation to public and political matters ; I cherished no personal 
ill-will whatever against that individual, but quite the contrary ; 1 
spoke of my adversary merely as a political man." In my opinion, 
the day is coming when falsehood will stand for falsehood, and cal- 
umny will be treated as a breach of the commandment, whether it 
be committed politically or in the concerns of private life. 

It is by the promulgation of sound morals in the community, and, 
more especially, by the training and instruction of the young, that 
woman performs her part towards the preservation of a free Govern- 
ment. It is generally admitted that public liberty, the perpetuity 
of a free constitution, rests on the virtue and intelligence of the 
community which enjoys it. How is that virtue to be inspired, and 
how is that intelligence to be communicated ? Bonaparte once 
asked Madame de Stael in what manner he could most promote 
the happiness of France. Her reply is full of political wisdom. 
She said, " Instruct the mothers of the French people." Mothers 
are, indeed, the affectionate and effective teachers of the human 
race. The mother begins her process of training with the infant in 
her arms. It is she who directs, so to speak, its first mental and 
spiritual pulsations. She conducts it along the impressible years 
of childhood and youth, and hopes to deliver it to the rough con- 



549 

tests and tumultuous scenes of life, armed by those good principles 
which her ehlld has received from nuUerual care and love. 

If we draw within the circle of our contemplation the mothers of 
a civilized nation, what do we see ? We behold so many artificers 
working, not on fi-ail and perishable matter, but on the immortal 
mind, moulding and fashioning bemgs who are to exist forever. 
We applaud the artist whose skill and genius present the mimic 
man upon the canvass ; we admire and celebrate the sculptor who 
works out that same image in enduring marble ; but how insignifi- 
cant are these achievements, though the highest and the fairest in 
all the departments of art, in comparison with the great vocation 
of human mothers ! They work, no' upon the canvass that shall 
fail, or the marble that shall crumble into dust, but upon mind, 
upon spirit, which is to last forever, and which is to bear, for good or 
evil, tliroughout its duration, the impress of a mother's plastic hand. 

I have already expressed the opinion, which all allow to be cor- 
rect, that our security for the duration of the free institutions which 
bless our country depends upon the habits of virtue and the preva- 
lence of knowledge and of education. Knowledge does not com- 
prise all which is contained in the larger term of education. The 
feelings are to be disciplined ; the passions are to be restrained ; 
true and worthy motives are to be inspired ; a profound religious 
feeling is to be instilled, and pure morality inculcated, under all cir- 
cumstances. All this is comprised in education. Mothers who 
are faithful to this great duty will tell their children that neither in 
political nor in any other concerns of life can man ever withdraw 
himself from the perpetual obligations of conscience and of duty ; 
that in every act, whether public or private, he incurs a just respon- 
sibility ; and that in no condition is he warranted in trifling with 
important rights and obligations. They will impress upon their 
children the truth, that the exercise of the elective franchise is a 
social duty, of as solemn a nature as man can be called to 
perform ; that a man may not innocently trifle with his vote ; that 
every free elector is a trustee, as well for others as himself; and that 
every man and every measure he supports has an important bearing 
on the interests of others as well as on his own. It is in the incul- 
cation of high and pure morals, such as these, that, in a free Re- 
public, woman performs her sacred duty, and fulfils her destiny. 
The French, as you know, are remarkable for their fondness for 
sententious phrases, in which much meaning is condensed into a 
small space. I noticed lately, on the title-page of one of the books 
of popular instruction in France, this motto : '* Pour instruction on 
the heads of the people! you owe them that baptisn)." And, cer- 
tainly, if there be any duty which may be described by a reference 
to that great institute of religion, — a duty approaching it in impor- 
tance, perhaps next to it in obligation, — it is this. 



550 



I know you hardly expect me to address you on the popular 
political topics of the day. You read enough, you hear quite 
enough, on those subjects. You expect me only to meet you, and 
to tender my profound thanks for this marked proof of your regard, 
and will kindly receive the assurances with which I tender to you, 
on parting, my affectionate respects and best wishes. 



REMARKS 



UPON THAT PART OF THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGt WHICH RE- 
LATES TO THE REVENUE AND FINANCES, DELIVERED IN THE 
SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, DECEMBER IG AND 17, 1840. 

The motion submitted by Mr. Wright, on Monday, 14th inst., proposing to 
refer so much of the President's Message as relates to the Finances, to the Com- 
mittee on Finance, coming up for consideration — 

Mr. Webster rose, and addressed the Senate nearly as follows : — 

Mr. President : It has not been without great reluctance that I 
have risen to offer any remarks on the Message of the President, es- 
pecially at this early period of the session. I have no wish to cause, 
or to witness, a prolonged, and angry, and exciting discussion on the 
topics it contains. The Message is, mainly, devoted to an elaborate 
and plausible defence of the course of the existing Administration ; 
it dwells on the subjects which have been so long discussed among 
us — on banks and banking, on the excess of commerce and spec- 
ulation, on the State debts, and the dangers arising from them, on 
the sub-Treasury, as it has been called, or the Independent Treas- 
ury, as others have denominated it. I propose now to deal with 
none of these points. So far as they may be supposed to affect 
the merits or character of the Administration, tliey have, as 1 un- 
derstand it, been passed upon by the country ; and I have no dis- 
l)osiiion to reargue any of them. Nor do I wish to enter upon an 
iiu]uiry as to what, in relation to all these things, is supposed to have 
been approved or disapproved by the people of the United States, 
by their decision in the late election. It appears, however, thus 
far, to be the disposition of the nation to change the Administration 
of the Government. All I purpose at this time to do is, to present 
some remarks on the subject of the finances, speaking on the pres- 
ent state of things only, without recurring to the past, or speculating 
as to the future. Yet 1 suppose that some proper forecast, some 
disposition to provide for what is before us, naturally mixes itself up, 
in a greater or less degree, with all inquiries of this sort. 

In this view, I shall submit a few thoughts upon the Message of 
the President ; but I deem it necessary to preface what I shall say 
with some few preliminary remarks. 

551 



552 

And, first, I will say a word or two on the question whether or 
not unfounded or erroneous impressions are communicated to the 
people by that document, in several respects. In this point of view 
I first notice what the President says in the eighth page. He there 
represents it as the great distinctive principle — the grand difference 
in the characters of our public men — that of one class of them it 
has been the constant object to create and to maintain a public debt, 
and with another to prevent and to discharge it. This I consider 
as an unfounded imputation on those who have conducted the Gov- 
ernment of this country. The President says " he has deemed this 
brief summary of our fiscal affairs necessar}' to the due performance 
of a duty specially enjoined upon him by the Constitution. It will 
serve also to ilhistrate more fully the principles by which he has 
been guided in reference to two contested points in our public pol- 
icy, which were earliest in their development, and have been more 
important in their consequences than any that have arisen under our 
system of government : he alludes to a national debt and a National 
Bank." About a National Bank I have nothing at present to say ; 
but here it is officially announced to us that it has been a great con- 
tested question in the country whether there shall or shall not be a 
national debt, as if there were public men who wished a national 
debt, to be created and perpetuated for-its own sake ! Now, I sub- 
mit it to the Senate, whether there has ever existed in the country 
any party, at any time, which avowed itself in favor of a national 
debt, ])er se, as a thing desirable ? Does the history of the past 
debts contracted by the Government lay the least foundation for 
any such assertion ? The first national debt we have had was the 
loan negotiated in Holland, by John x\dams. None, I presume, 
ever doubted the policy of such a loan, in the then existing circum- 
stances of the country. Then there came the debt contracted for 
the pay of the Revolutionary army, by the Continental Congress, 
or rather by the country through that Congress. Next were the 
debts incurred during the war by the States, for the purpose of car- 
rying on the war. Provision was made for discharging these debts 
as the cost of our Revolution : can any body object to a debt like 
this ? Of the same character were the loans made by Government 
to carry on the late war with Great Britain. These are the princi- 
pal national debts we have ever contracted, and I cannot but think 
it singularly unfortunate that what looks so much like an imputation 
on those who authorized these loans should come from die head of 
an Administration which, so far as I know, is the first that has ever 
commenced a national debt in a time of profound peace. 

And now to proceed to the actual state of the finances. 

The Message, though it does not call the obligations of the Gov- 
ernment a national debt, but, on the contrary, speaks in the strong- 
est terms against a national debt, yet admits that there are Treasury 



553 

notes outstanding, and bearing interest, to the amount of four and a 
half millions ; and 1 see, connected with this, other important and 
leading truths, very necessary to be considered by those who would 
look out beforehand that they may provide for the future. 

Of these, the first in importance is, that the expenditures of the 
Government during the term of the present Administration have 
greatly exceeded its income. I shall not now argue the question 
whether these expenditures have been reasonable or unreasonable, 
necessary or unnecessary. I am looking at the facts in a financial 
view, purely — and I say that during the last four years the public 
exptnditure has exceeded the public income at the rate 0/ seven 
MILLIONS OF DOLLARS PER ANNUM. This is easily demonstrated. 

At the commencement of the first year of this presidential term, 
in January, 1837, there was in the Treasury a balance of six mil- 
lions of dollars, which was reserved from distribution by what has 
usually been called the Deposit Act. The intention of Congress 
was to reserve five millions only ; but, in consequence of an uncer- 
tainty which attended the mode of effecting this result, the Secre- 
tary, in his calculations, wishing to be, at least, on the safe side, it 
turned out that the sum actually reserved was six millions. Here, 
then, was this amount in the Treasury on the first of January, 1837. 
Events occurred during that year which induced Congress to mod- 
ify the deposit act, so as to bring back again into the Treasury the 
fourth instalment of the sum to be deposited with the States, which 
amounted to nine millions. I find, further, from the communica- 
tions of the Secretary of the Treasury now submitted to the Senate, 
tliat, for the stock for the United States in the Bank of the United 
States for which bonds had been given to the Treasury by the Bank 
of the United States of Pennsylvania, which bonds are now paid, 
there have been received eight millions. Now, Sir, these are all 
items of a preexisting fund, no part of which has accrued since Jan- 
uary, 1837. 

To these I may add the outstanding Treasury notes running on 
interest, (four and a half millions ;) and the whole forms an aggre- 
gate of twenty-seven and a half miUioris of dollars of surplus, in 
addition to the current revenue, which have been expended in three 
and a hatfov four years — excepting, of course, what may remain 
in the Treasury at the end of that term. Here, then, has the Gov- 
ernment been expending money at the rate of nearly eight millions 
per annum beyond its income. What state of things is that ? Sup- 
pose it should go on. Does not every man see that we have a vast 
debt immediately before us ? 

But is this all ? — is this all ? I am inclined to think that, in one 
respect at least, it is not all. The Treasury, I think, has not duly 
distinguished, in reference to one important branch of its administra- 
tion, between Treasury funds proper, and a trust fund, set apart by 
VOL. III. 70 u u 



554 

treaty stipulation, to be invested for the benefit of certain Indian 
tribes. I say the Treasury has taken, as belonging to the Govern- 
ment, that which properly belongs to a trust fund which the Gov- 
ernment engaged to invest in permanent stocks for the benefit of 
certain Indian tribes. This makes it necessary to look a little into 
these trust funds. By our treaty with the Chickasaws, the proceeds 
of the sales of the lands ceded to the United States by that tribe, 
were to be invested in permanent stocks, for the use of the mem- 
bers of that tribe. At the date of the last communication which 1 
find, from the Treasury, the amount received on these sales was 
^•2,498,000 06. Bonds had been purchased to the amount of 
{^'1,994,141 03; but as some of these bonds were purchased at 
rates above par, the sums vested in them amounted to !^ 2,028,678 54. 
This would leave a balance of ^369,000 uninvested at that time ; 
and the Secretary informs us that the portion of it which had been 
received from the land offices had been " mixed up in the general 
fund." Here, then, is one item of trust money — money not our 
own — which has been mixed up with our own money, and received 
as part of the available funds of the Treasury. The stocks pur- 
chased for the Chickasaws appear to be as follows: — 



M'umber 
cf Bonds. 



125 Ten. 
12.5 do. 

65 do. 
1 do. 

f)5 Ala. 
fiSO do. 
500 do. 
SIX) do. 
161 Ind. 

41 do. 



3 Ohio 

1 Md. 
1 do. 
I do. 
1 do. 



Interest, where 
payable. 



Philadelphia, . . . 

do. . . . 

Treasurer's office,Ten. 

do. do, do. 

Phcpnix Biink, N. Y. . 

do. do. do. . 

Union Bank, N.Orleans 

Commercial Bank, do. 

New York 



Baltimore, 
do. . 
do. . 
do. . 



Interest, when 
payable. 



1st January and July, 

do. do. . 

25th January and July, 

do. do. 

1st Monday May and Nov. 

do. do. do. 

1st Monday June and Dec 

do. do. do. 

Ist January and 1st July, 



8th February and August, 

do. do. 

do. do. 

1st January, and quarterly, 



Times re- 
deemable. 



1848. 
1853. 
1861. 

1852. 
1865. 



1866. 
1857. 



1856. 



Kate 
pr. ct. 



Ad libitum 
. 1849. . 
. 1844. . 
. 1870. . 



Amount of Stock for Chickasaws, 



Jim'vt 
of each 



$1,000 



1,000 



35,000 
15,000 
50,000 



Total. 



$125,000 no 

125,000 00 

65,000 00 

1,666 66 

65,000 00 

250,000 00 

500,000 00 

500,000 00 

161,000 00 

41,000 00 

• 100,000 00 

30,091 80 

13,000 00 

11,233 00 

6,149 57 



$1,994,141 03 



As a matter of account and book-keeping, this might be thought 
correct, or it might not ; but I think it would have been better to 
keep a separate account for funds thus held in trust, as every private 
individual does, who is made a trustee for the interests of others. 
If the facts are as I have gathered from the report submitted to Con- 
gress, here are three or four hundred thousand dollars of the trust 
fund not invested, and which remain yet to be invested for the ben- 
efit of these Indian tribes. As to the rates at which these bonds 
\yere purchased, I find it stated that one "lot" of Alabama bonds 



555 

was taken, March 31, 1836, at 4i per cent, premium; others, 
immediately after, at 4 ; others, in May, at 3i ; and others, in 
March, 1837, at 1 per cent. off. Tennessee bonds were purchased 
at par; Ohio bonds at lljV advance ; part of tlie Maryland bonds 
at S per cent, off, part at I per cent, off, and part at \A^^ advance. 
So much for the investment under the treaty with the Chicka- 
saws. But we have other treaties presenting a more important case. 
We have treaties with eight tribes of Indians, by which treaties the 
United States stipulated to invest the amounts agreed to be paid for 
the lands ceded by them in State stocks. Take, for example, the 
stipulation in the treaty with the Sioux of the Mississippi. The 
article of the treaty is in these words : — 

"Art. 2. In consideration of the cession contained in the preceding arti- 
cle, the United States agree to the following stipulations on tlieir part: First, 
to invest the sum of $300,000 in such safe and profitable State stocks as the 
President may direct, and to pay to the chiefs and braves as aforesaid, annu- 
ally, forever, an income of not less than five per cent, thereon." 

The stipulations in the other treaties are substantially the same. 

The whole amount thus agreed to be invested for the eicrht tribes, 

'by treaties, mostly entered into in the years 1837 and 1838, is 

$'2,530,100. This appears from the following statement, which I 

find in the documents: — 

Statement exhibiting the Amount of Interest appropriated by Congress to pay 
the following Tnbes, in lieu of investing the Sums, provided by the Treaties, 
in Stocks. 



M'ames of Tribes. 



Ottawas and Chippewas, . 

Osages, 

Del a wares, 

Siou.x of Mississippi, . . 
Sacs and Foxes of Mississippi, 
Sacs and Foxes of Missouri, . 

Winnebagoes, 

Creeks, 

lowas, 



Amount provide 

ed by Treaties 

to be invested in 

safe Stocks. 



$200,000 
69,120 



Annual Inter 

est appropria 

ted by Con 

gress. 



$12,000 
3,456 



46,080 


2,304 


300,000 


15,000 


200,000 


10,000 


157,400 


7,870 


1,100,000 


55,000 


350,000 


17,500 


157,500 


7,875 


$2,580,100 


$131,005 



Treaties. 



Resolution of the Sen- 
ate. 

Resolution of the Sen- 
ate, Jan. 19, 1838. 

Treaty, 1832. 

Treaty, Sept 29, 1837. 

Treaty, Oct. 21, 1837. 

Treaty, Oct. 21, 1837. 

Treaty, Nov. 1, 1887. 

Treatv, Nov.23,183a. 

Treaty, 1837. 



Now, Sir, not one dollar of all this has been invested. The very- 
statement which I have quoted shows this. That statement declares 
that, instead of investing this large sum, according to contract, the 
United States pays interest upon it, as upon a debt. 



556 

We are Indebted, therefore, to these Indians in the whole amount 
we agreed to pay for these lands, which have been transferred to 
us, surveyed, put in market, and large portions of which, I suppose, 
have, ere this, been disposed of. We promised to invest the pro- 
ceeds for their benefit — which has not been done. Instead of 
asking for money wherewith to purchase these stocks, the Treasury 
has been contented to ask for the amount of interest only, holdinor 
the United States debtors to the Indians, whereby a debt, to all 
intents and purposes, to the whole amount of this trust fund, is 
created, and is to be added to the amount of debt due by the 
Government. I do not say it must be paid to-day, or to-morrow ; 
but it is an outstanding debt. The Government is under an un- 
discharged treaty obligation to raise the money, and with it to buy 
stock for the benefit of the Indians. 

In addition to all this, there will be found, I have no doubt, a 
heavy amount of outstanding debts due for public works, expenses 
growing out of army operations in Florida, indemnities for Indian 
spoliations in the South and West, and springing from a variety of 
otiier sources. 

Now, Sir, I agree with all that is said in the Message as to the 
great impolicy, in time of peace, of commencing a public debt ; 
but it seems to me rather extraordinary and inappropriate in the 
President to admonish others against such a measure, with all these 
facts immediately before him. In principle, there is no diflerence, 
as to the creation of a public debt, whether it be by issuing stocky 
redeemable after a certain period, or by issuing Treasury notes, 
which are renewable, and constantly renewed ; and, if there be any 
difference in point of expediency, none can entertain any great 
doubt which of the two forms is best. Treasury notes are certain- 
ly not the cheaper of the two. 

Now, we find the existence of this public debt as early as the 
existence of the present Administration itself. It began at the called 
session, in September, 1837. From the dale of the first Treasury 
note bill, in October, 1837, there has been no moment in which the 
Government has not been in debt for borrowed money. The Sec- 
retary says it is not expected that the Treasury notes now out can 
be paid off earlier than in March, 1842. In whatever soft words 
he chooses to invest the matter, the sum and substance is this — 
that there must be a new issue of Treasury notes before the Gov- 
ernment can be freed from embarrassment. 

I must confess that it seems to me that the scope and tendency 
of the remarks in the Message are to produce an erroneous impres- 
sion. Here is a series of very strong sentiments against a public 
debt, — against beginning a public debt, — and all said in face of 
a debt already begun, — existing now, and under such circumstances 
as to create the fear that it will turn out to be a very large one. 



557 

We know that these various outstanding charges cannot, or, at least, 
will not, be brought together, and presented in one aggregate sum, 
for some months to come. Is it intended by this document to 
forestall public opinion, so as, when it shall appear that there is a 
public debt, to give to it a date posterior to the 4th of March next? 
I hope not. I do not impute such a design. So far, however, as 
I am concerned, I shall take special good care to prevent any such 
result. I shall certainly recommend that there be a new set of 
books opened ; that there be what merchants call " a rest ; " that 
what is collected prior to March, 1841, and what is expended prior 
to March, 1841, stand against each other; so that, if there shall 
appear a balance in favor of this Administration, it may be stated; 
and, if the result shall be that the Administration is left in debt, let 
that debt appear, and let it be denominated " The debt of 1841," 
and which it will be the duty of Congress to provide for. 

In one or two other respects, the Message is calculated to create 
quite an erroneous impression. In the 5th page, the President 
speaks on the subject of the Treasury notes in as mitigated a tone 
as possible, and tells us, first, that " this small amount still outstand- 
ing " is " composed of such as are not yet due." I suppose we all 
knew that. And then he adds that they are " less by twenty-three 
millions than the United States have on deposit with the States." 
I ask the Senate, and I would, if I could, ask the President, whether 
he means to recommend to Congress to withdraw the deposits now 
in the hands of the States, in order to discharge this debt on Treas- 
ury notes? Do the Administration look to these deposits as a 
fund out of which to discharge any of the debts of the Treasury? 
I find no recommendation of such a measure. Why, then, were 
these two things connected ? There is nothing in the fact that the 
amount of Treasury notes is less by twenty-three millions than the 
amount deposited with the States, unless the President means to 
recommend that the latter sum shall be looked to as a means of 
discharging the former. Does he mean merely to inform Congress 
that twenty-three are less than twenty-eight? If not, why are the 
two thus placed in juxtaposition, and their amounts compared? 
The Secretary of the Treasury treats the matter in much the same 
way. He speaks of the deposits with the States as of funds in 
the Treasury. Look at his report. In stating the resources of the 
Treasury, he mentions the twenty-eight millions on deposit with 
the States. What can be the purpose of such a statement ? When 
a Secretary of the Treasury presents to the world a statement of 
the means of his Department, it is universally supposed that his 
statement is confined to what either exists in the Treasury, or is 
likely to accrue under the operation of existing laws. But this 
deposit with the States is no more under the control of the Treas- 
ury than any other money in the country. He knows full well that 

uu* 



558 

an act of Congress is as necessary to his disposal of any part of 
that sum, as it is to augment tlie rate of duties at the custom-house. 
The Treasury can no more use the deposits with the States, than 
it can lay a direct tax. What can be the purpose — the fair pur- 
pose — of presenting sums as funds in the Treasury, when they are 
not in the Treasury ? Or what can be the fair purpose of referring 
to a fund as a means of payment, when it cannot be touched, unless 
the President means to recommend to Congress to recall the depos- 
its made with the States ? That Congress can do, and so it can 
augment the rate of duties; but, till it does, those deposits are no 
more means in the Treasury than if they belonged to another na- 
tion. The day, I hope, will come, — I have long desired it, — 
when we shall see plain fact plainly stated ; when the reports of 
our fiscal officers will deal less in guesses at the future, and will no 
longer use forms and phrases, I will not say which are designed to 
mislead or to mystify, but the result of which is to mislead the na- 
tion, by mystifying the subject. 

I said that though the honorable Secretary pretty clearly intimates 
that we must resort to a new issue of Treasury notes, yet the result 
of all is, that, if Congress wish to avoid the necessity either of in- 
creasing the duties, or of issuing new Treasury notes, he has a re- 
source ready for them., viz., to reduce their appropriations below 
even his own estimates. This is much like what he told us last 
year; and yet, when we did reduce our appropriations wi'hin even 
his estimates, still the Treasury is in want of money. 

One other remark is suggested by what the President says to us 
on the 6th page of his Message. He tells us that it is possible to 
avoid the " creation of a permanent debt by the General Govern- 
ment," and then goes on to observe, " But, to accomplish so desira- 
ble an object, two things are indispensable ; first, that the action of 
the Federal Government be kept within the bounds prescribed by 
its founders." Now, I did suppose that this duty of keeping the 
action of the Federal Government within the bounds of the Con- 
stitution was absolute ; that it was not affected by times, circum- 
stances, or condition, but was always peremptory and mandatory. 
What is the inference to be drawn from the President's language? 
If the Treasury is empty, you must keep within the Constitution. 
And what if it is full ? Are you to break its bounds ? to transcend 
the Constitution? I had always thought we should neither be 
tempted to this by an overflowing Treasury, nor deterred, by an 
empty one, from taking such a course as the exigencies of the 
country might require, to fulfil our own duties. The duty of keep- 
ing within our constitutional limits is an absolute duty, existing at 
all times, and in all conditions of things. If the Treasury be full 
to overflowing, we are still to undertake nothing, to expend money 
for nothing, which is not fairly within our power. And, if the 



569 

Treasuiy be empty, and the public service demand expenditures, 
such as it is our province to make, we are to replenish the Treasury. 

There is also an important omission in the Message, to which I 
would call the notice of the Senate and of the country. The 
President says the revenue has fallen off two and a half millions 
of dollars under two biennial reductions of the rate of duties at the 
custom-houses under the law of 1833. Be it so. But do we not 
all know that there is before us, within a year, a much greater 
" relinquishment," (if that is the term to be applied to it,) and, within 
a year and a half more, another and the last of these reductions ? 
Do we not see, then, from the present existence of a large debt, 
and from this further reduction of duties, (that is, if nothing shall 
be done to change the law as it now stands,) that a case is presented 
which will call for the deliberation and wisdom of Congress, and 
that some effort will be required to relieve the country? 

But here is no reco endation at all on the subject of revenue. 
No increase is recommended of the duties on articles of luxury, 
such as wines and silks, nor any other way suggested of providing 
for the discharge of the existing debt. Now, the result of the 
whole is, that the experience of the President has shown that the 
revenue of the country is not equal to its expenditure ; that the 
Government is spending seven millions a year beyond its income ; 
and that we are in the process of running right into the jaws of 
debt. And yet there is not one practical recommendation as to the 
reduction of the debt, or its extinguishment ; but the Message con- 
tents itself with general and ardent recommendations not to create 
a debt. 

I know not what will be done to meet the deficiency of the next 
quarter. I suppose the Secretary's recommendation to issue Treas- 
ury notes will be followed. 1 should, myself, have greatly preferred 
a tax on wines and silks. It is obvious that, if this, or something 
like it, is not done, the time approaches, and is not far off, when 
provision must be made by another Congress. 

1 have thus stated my views of this portion of the Message. I 
think it leads to what may render an extra session necessary — a 
result I greatly deprecate on many accounts, especially on account 
of the great expenditure with which it will unavoidably be attended. 
1 hope, therefore, that those who now have the power in their 
hands will make such reasonable and adequate provision for the 
public exigency as may render the occurrence of an extra session 
unnecessary. 

Mr. Wright havinjr spoken in answer to Mr. Webster's remarks of the day 
before, Mr. Webster replied, to the following effect : — 

]\Ir. Webster said he should detain the Senate but a short time 
in answer to some of the honoralle member's remarks, as he had 



560 

really not met the argument of Mr. W. yesterday. To begin with 
the subject of Indian treaties. The honorable member had said 
that the fund arising from the sale of the Chickasaw lands had all 
been invested to within some forty or fifty thousand dollars. He 
(Mr. W.) had founded what he had said in relation to this fund on 
the returns furnished to the Senate, — and, according to that docu- 
m.ent, the balance uninvested amounted to ^'360,000, — but had 
added that he had heard that ,'^'90,000 had been invested since the 
date of the returns. Mr. W. had made no complaint of the mode 
in which this fund had been invested, so far as it had been invested ; 
and, if the whole of it had been invested, so much the better. But, 
in regard to the two and a half millions of the fund belonging to 
the Winnebagoes and other tribes, and which, according to the 
treaty, was to be invested for the benefit of those tribes, he asked 
of the Senate whether Mr. Wright had fairly met the force of the 
argument he had advanced, (if it had any force to be met.) He 
had not complained of the treaty, nor had he charged the Admin- 
istration with any extravagance or want of providence in entering 
into it ; that was not the point ; the point was, that this amount 
constituted a debt, for the payment of which it was incumbent on 
the Government to provide ; and that, as such, it ought to be kept 
before the view of Congress, whereas it had been kept entirely out 
of sight. That was his point. The honorable member admitted 
that it was a debt, but contended that it was not to be reckoned as 
a portion of the public national debt. If, by this, the honorable 
member meant to say that this amount formed no part of the debt 
arising from borrowed money, unquestionably he was right ; but 
still it was a national debt ; the nation owed this money ; and it 
entered necessarily, as one important item or element, into a state- 
ment of the financial condition of the Government. The honora- 
ble member had asked. If this were so, why such a statement ought 
not, in like manner, to include the Indian annuities. They were 
included, in effect. Did not the annual report from the Depart- 
ment always state the amount of those annuities as part of the ex- 
penditures for which Congress was to provide ? Are they not 
always in the estimates ? So the member asked why the pensions 
were not to be included. The same answer might be made. The 
amount of that expenditure, also, was annually laid before Congress, 
and it was provided for as other demands on the Government. He 
had not complained of this amount of two and a half millions of 
Indian debt; he himself had never opposed these treaties. All 
he had contended for was, that, as an amount to be provided for, it 
was as much a part of the public debt as if it had consisted of bor- 
rowed money ; it was a demand which Congress was bound to 
meet. In any general view, therefore, of the liabilities of the 
Government, was there one element of those liabilities which could 
with more truth and justice be inserted than this ? 



561 

He (Mr. W.) had said that he commended the argument of the 
President in opposition to a national debt ; and he should be quite 
unwilling to have it supposed that any thing he said could be 
wrested (he did not charge that it had been intentionally so wrested) 
to lavor the idea of a public debt at all. But he must still insist 
that the language employed by the President on the 8th page of 
his Message did refer to past political contests in this country, and 
did hold out the idea that, from the beginning of the Government, 
in the political contests which had agitated the country, there had 
been some men or some parties who were in favor of the creation 
and continuance of a public debt, as part of their policy ; and this 
he (Mr. W.) had denied. The idea in the Message was, not that 
there were certain great interests in the country which were always, 
from the nature of things, in favor of such a debt, on account of 
the advantages derivable from it to themselves, as the honorable 
member has argued to-day. If the President had stated this, as it 
had now been stated in the speech of the honorable member, no- 
body could have taken any exception to it. But that was not 
Avhat the Message did say. The point of objection was, that the 
Message charged this fondness for a national debt upon some one 
of the parties which had engaged in the past political strifes of the 
country, and had represented it as a broad and general ground of 
distinction between parties ; that one was the advocate of a national 
debt, as of itself a good, and the other the opponent of the exist- 
ence of a debt. This he regarded as an imputation wholly un- 
founded ; and it was on this ground that he had objected to that 
portion of the Executive communication. No facts in our history 
warranted the allegation. It was mere assumption. 

3Ir. W. proceeded to say that he had, when before up, omitted 
one important item, in stating the amount of expenditures, under 
the existing Administration, beyond the accruing revenue, which 
ought to be brought to the public view. If he (Mr. W.) was in 
error, the honorable member would put him right. In March, 
1836, a law had passed, postponing the payment of certain revenue 
bonds, in consequence of the great fire at New^ York, for three, 
four, and five years. The great mass of these postponed bonds had 
fallen due, and had been received into the Treasury, since the 
present Administration had come into power. The total amount 
was about six millions of dollars. This being so, then the whole 
amount of expenditure, over and abovq the accruing revenue, would 
amount to thirty-four millions, or thereabouts, and would thus give 
an annual excess of expenditures over receipts of eight and a half 
millions a year; and he insisted, again, that, looking at the matter 
in a purely financial view, — looking at the comparative proportion 
of liabilities, and of means to discharge them, when the President 
found an excess of the former continuing for four years, at the rate 
VOL. m. 71 



662 

of eight and a half millions per annum, and did not particularize 
any one branch of expenditure in which a considerable practical 
deduction could be made, (unless so far as it might take place in 
the pension H=t, by the gradual decease of the pensioners,) — and 
when he proposed no new measure as a means of replenishing the 
exhausted Treasury, — the question for Congress and for the nation 
to consider was, whether this was a course safe to be pursued in 
relation to our fiscal concerns. Was it wise, provident, and states- 
manlike? 

There was another point in which (Mr. W. said) the honorable 
member from New York had entirely misapprehended him. He 
(Mr. Wright) had said that Mr. W. appeared to desire to avoid, 
as a critical and delicate subject, the question of the tariff; or, 
rather, had complained that this Administration had not taken it 
up. Now, he (Mr. W.) had not said a word about the tariff, fur- 
ther than to state that another great reduction was immediately ap- 
proaching in the rate of duties, of which the Message took no 
notice whatever; while it did not fail to refer to two reductions 
which had heretofore taken place. What he (Mr. W.) had said 
on the subject of imposing new duties for revenue, had reference 
solely to silks and ivinc.s. This had been a delicate point with him 
at no lime. He had, for a long period, been always desirous to lay 
such a duty on silks and wines ; and it did appear to him the 
strangest thing imaginable, — the strangest phase of the existing 
sj'Stem of revenue, — that we should import so many millions of 
dollars' worth of silks and wines entirely free of duty, at the very 
time when the Government had been compelled, by temporary 
loans, to keep itself in constant debt for four years past. So far 
from considering this as a matter of any delicacy, had the Senate 
the constitutional power of originating revenue bills, the very first 
thing he should move, in his place, would be to lay a tax on both- 
these articles of luxury. 

Were Mr. W. to draw an inference from the speech of the hon- 
orable member, it would be that it rather seemed to be his own 
opinion, and certainly seemed also to be that of the President, that 
it would be wiser to withdraw the whole or a part of the money 
deposited with the States, than to lay taxes on silks and wines. In 
this opinion Mr. W. did not at all concur. If the question were 
between such a withdrawal and the imposition of such a tax, he 
should, without hesitation, say, lay the tax, and leave the money 
with the States where it is. He was greatly mistaken if such a 
preference did not meet the public approbation. He was for taxing 
this enormous amount of twenty or thirty millions of foreign 
products imported in a single year, and all consumed in the 
country, and consumed, as articles of luxury, by the rich alone, 
and for leaving the deposits in possession of the States with whom 
they had been placed. 



563 

Mr. W. said he believed he liad now noticed so much of the 
honorable Senator's speech as required a reply ; and he would re- 
sume his seat with again repeating that it had been no part of his 
purpose to ascribe either extravagance, or the opposite virtue, to 
the Administration in the purchase of Indian lands, or other trans- 
actions. That was not his object, or his point, on this occasion. 
He only wished to present a true financial view of the condition of 
our affairs, and to show that our national debt was much greater 
and more serious than a hasty reader of the President's Message 
might be led, from its perusal, to conclude; and, however warmly 
it admonished the country against a national debt, yet these admo- 
nitions were all uttered at a moment when a national debt had 
already been begun, and begun in time of peace. 



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